


Nux Historia

by 6lilystrings9



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: (I think?), (hopefully), (maybe), (probably), Age Difference, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, College, Especially the main pair, Eventual Smut, Everyone is a dork, High School, Illegal Cats, Judai is a smooth dork, M/M, Plot Twists, Plot subject to rewrite at any moment, Roommates, Seriously y'all I'm takin' my time, Slow Build, Slow To Update, Starshipping, Yusei is an awkward dork, some canon elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-19
Updated: 2015-05-03
Packaged: 2018-03-13 16:04:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 27,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3387884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/6lilystrings9/pseuds/6lilystrings9
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Judai is a college sophomore with the weird habit of talking to himself. Yusei is a high school freshman with a complicated history and no idea why he has such a weird birthmark. Somewhere love is going to happen here.</p><p>Also, Pharoah is there even though pets are totally against their landlady's rules.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Settling In (but not really)

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first work, and for a virtually dead(?) fandom at that. I hope my 3AM garbage ideas work out.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> School sucks Yusei. Get used to it.

When Yusei met Judai for the first time he was left with the strangest impression, a gut feeling if you will, that Judai was more than he appeared to be. It something like a pull at something deep inside of him that made him think Judai was a lot smarter than his energetic and simple-mindedly plucky personality let on.

It was when he was treated to the sight of the brunette moving his things into their nice apartment that his gut impressions were confirmed. As his ears picked up his roommate shuffling things around in his own bedroom, Yusei’s eyes spotted Judai’s textbooks. Supplementary textbooks in mathematics made sense for a college student, but there were some unrelated hobbyist texts there that he, oddly enough, found both predictable and surprising. Namely the Duel Monsters Encyclopedia and other enthusiast paraphernalia for the niche hobby. Even though Judai hasn’t been seen with a single card, the interest in the game struck Yusei as oddly fitting. Right, somehow.

That all being said, there were some books that completely threw him for a loop, like theoretical physics, quantum mechanics, and advanced astronomical sciences like astrophysics. Looking at Judai’s overabundance of energy as he busied strangely through the apartment like a restless puppy, Yusei wouldn’t think Judai capable of sitting through complex science lectures with titles he could barely read. But if his roommate was taking this level of academia as a sophomore, he must have been quite talented.Though that only begged the question of why someone so apparently talented in complex sciences would need a supplementary mathematics textbook.

Odd collection of textbooks aside, it was just another lesson for him not to judge other’s capabilities by outward appearances. A man in his position should know that better than anyone.

Judai didn’t seem to own much, going by the small size of the mover’s vehicle and how quickly he finished with a lazy flop onto the red and cream sofa. “I sold most of it.” he supplied with an answering grin to Yusei’s puzzled look.  “I figured my roomie would have his own stuff and didn’t wanna crowd the place.”

Yusei looked at the sparse room with a slightly guilty look. He had come with the clothes on his back, his deck, his bike, and a twenty-thousand yen allowance packed neatly in his pocket, supplied by –and Yusei resisted gritting his teeth a little- Godwin. His roommate sold all his furniture for nothing. “Sorry.” He said, mostly apologizing for the situation itself. He came from Satellite, so it should go without saying he didn’t have much in the way of valuables worth taking into a new apartment. He couldn’t feel guilty about that, about not owning much, but he did feel a little bad about his roommate’s furniture mishap.

 “Nah, it’s cool.” Judai said with a sheepish grin. “It’s my fault for not asking first.”

 Yusei nodded and hesitated to ask his next question, but as a duelist he craved the knowledge. “I apologize for prying, Judai, but I saw those Duel Monsters books. Are you a duelist?”

 There was a brief flicker of something in his brown eyes; Yusei couldn’t tell what it meant. Whatever took over his thoughts seemed to have passed, because Judai responded after a short second spent staring into space. “Actually, yeah. And I’m not bad at it either. Why? Did you wanna play?” His wicked grin spoke volumes of just how “not bad” he was.

 “Maybe later.” Yusei said apologetically at Judai’s disappointed face, feeling a little disappointed himself. “I really need to finish the paperwork for school.”

 Judai’s face lit up, instantly bouncing between moods with a fluidity that kind of amazed Yusei. “Oh that’s right, you’re in high school! A freshman, right?”

He nodded, but didn’t feel the need to mention that he was going to be a year older than his classmates.

“Well, I guess it can wait then.” Judai said with a face that looked like he was eating a lemon. It was a childish pout that Yusei couldn’t resist briefly smiling at. His roommate’s open expressiveness and cheer was foreign to him, after everything, but it was also warm and refreshing.

 Yusei settled back into his room to finish the paperwork he had forgone in favor of helping Judai move his things in. Most of the papers were a basic inquiry on his financial, racial, and medical history. Some were more complex questionnaires as to the nature of his criminal history, as evidenced by his facial tracker, and the likelihood of him repeating his crimes. One was a survey about his home life that he knew to be a thinly-veiled probe into possible personal weaknesses; he suspected this one might have been Godwin’s doing.

He filled them out as best he could while trying to avoid the bad taste in his mouth developed from thinking about shairng his personal history to strangers and Godwin. It was a necessary evil, though, if he wanted his end of the deal. It was dark by the time he was finished, so Yusei neatly packed the papers into his new school issued book-bag and tucked into bed.

 

\---

 

He never was a late riser, despite also being a night owl. It seemed that no matter how little sleep he got he would always rise with the sun. He quickly dressed himself into the blue uniform, buttoned and assembled with textbook propriety, and prepared a simple rice and miso breakfast. He had heard somewhere that western-style breakfasts were popular in the city and were even quicker to make, but they were unheard of in Satellite and he didn’t know how to make them. Yusei wasn’t even sure what exactly a “western-style breakfast” was. He might ask Judai sometime.

He quickly brushed his teeth and was out the door, revving up the red motorcycle that he had built from scraps and rode off for school.

He still couldn’t believe it. School. Satellite didn’t have a way of formal education; he was taught to read and write at his orphanage, but he doubted it was enough to get by in formal education. Yusei hardly knew any traditional kanji and he only knew what little he did because, as a mechanic, he had to learn to understand instruction manuals. While he was good enough now to tinker without always knowing what he was dealing with, he certainly wasn’t when he was starting out and he had the small scars on his hands to prove how many times his projects had gone awry.

While he didn’t particularly care about fitting in, he at least hoped he wouldn’t make a spectacle of himself. Unlikely, given the marks on his face alone would be a beacon for negative attention.

Domino High School was oddly quaint in the middle of Domino City, where it was next to high-tech and state of the art buildings. It was a public school, so it wasn’t as updated as the nearby nicer ones. But _everything_ in the city was nice compared to Satellite, so Yusei could hardly find anything to complain about. He found the student entrance by following the mass of blue and pink uniforms inside while trying to keep his face down, but the inside of the school was strangely designed. Rather than straight long hallways and stairs to keep things organized, there were many intersections and stairs within rooms. It took some searching, but he found the office in the west wing of the building. Odd, because it made more sense for the middle to have those central services. Domino High School must have been an old school with additional architecture and buildings haphazardly tacked on as time went by. Yusei was vaguely aware of reading about that somewhere.

“Excuse me.” He said politely to a secretary typing something into a computer.

“Oh, I’m sorry about that.” She smiled apologetically before she peeked around the computer to see who she was talking to; her cheer instantly vanished at the sight of his face. “...I-Is there something I can do for you?”

He gently slid his papers across the counter. “I’m the new transfer student. Fudo Yusei. I brought my paperwork.”

The woman took the papers from him with an anxious glance at his mark and looked back to her computer. “It looks like your homeroom number is C-1. If you you get to class before eight o’clock, just wait outside the door for the teacher to let you in. I-If you’re late, no big deal- just go on in. There’s a bin of maps over there.” She gestured to a metal container with a nervous finger.

“Thank you very much.” He bowed politely, allowing the woman’s attitude to roll off his back. No need to ruin his mood so early over something that would no doubt persist all day. Still, he was thankful; the school had such an insane layout, a map was a godsend. He felt a flash of disbelief when Yusei saw that he had ten minutes to go exactly on the other far side of school and up the stairs to his classroom. He was by no means lazy, but walking back and forth across the school was a little tedious when it was because of poor floor planning.

“I’m Fudo Yusei. Pleased to meet you.” He introduced himself to a crowd of mixed reactions. None of them were happy, much to his dismay. Most looked openly terrified once they finally registered the hard yellow trackers marking his face as a criminal’s, some wore the openly horrified fascination one reserved for deadly vehicular collisions, and a small handful of others looked aggressive and challenging. Hopefully they could keep from picking fights on his first day in a ridiculous effort to fortify their place as the school’s tough guy or something.

Yusei wouldn’t pick any fights, couldn’t afford to pick any fights, but he refused to hold back if someone pushes him far enough that he has to resort to physical violence.

 “Let’s see.” The teacher said, voice a little strained and matching the equally tense atmosphere of the students. He wasn’t watching her eyes, but judging how each student would tense and make pleading faces at timed intervals, he would guess she was picking out a desk for him and the nearby students were begging her not to pick a seat close to them.

And if being treated like a rabid and dangerous animal wasn’t both ridiculous and degrading, he didn’t know what was. Yusei reminded himself not to let it bother him. He normally wasn’t so conscious about others’ opinions.

“How about next to Muto-kun?” The teacher motioned to a small boy with tri-colored hair. The kid visibly swallowed; Yusei supposed his face must have grown intimidating in the past few months. His classmates confirmed as much with their poorly hidden gossipping. He could even spot a brown haired girl _glaring_ at him from the corner of his eye.

That being said, he didn’t have any protests and the seat itself was out of the way. Wordlessly, he sat down after a short walk to his desk that felt like some kind of horrific death march. Even before he had been visibly branded a Satellite criminal, Yusei knew from experience that his stony silence and stoic face intimidated some people. He didn’t even have a particularly bad or unkind attitude- he was just very quiet, reserved, and wasn’t one to smile much. He didn’t need a mirror to know his expression must have hardened considerably from his seven months long stint in prison, and that coupled with the brand on his face carrying all it’s prejudices with it probably made for a terrifying image of a cutthroat criminal. Especially to city kids he couldn’t bring himself to think of as anything but utterly pampered on the backs of his and his friends’ hard work.

_“Did you see his face?”_

_“Scary…”_

_”My friend told me he killed someone. He set them on fire.”_

_“What? Someone just texted me that it was five and with an ATM!”_

_“Dude, I saw him on a motorcycle! It’s illegal for kids our age to drive!”_

_“He really is a delinquent.”_

_“Maan, why’d he_ _have to come here?”_

 _‘I wonder that too.’_ Yusei thought wryly over the cacophony of whispers. It was the third class of the day and they still hadn’t stopped. Wouldn’t they have run out of things to say by now…?  
  
From across the room he could see the teacher trying valiantly and failing spectacularly to keep some form of their attention onto her mathematics lesson displayed on the board. He was curious why she wouldn’t just call the class out. Yusei wasn’t one to particularly care about what strangers thought of him, but the persistent and obvious gossiping was rude and obnoxious, especially to the teacher. Wouldn’t that warrant her to say something, if not for him, than for her?

Thankfully after this class was a lunch and a short recess. There were five classes a day and each were ninety minutes long. The first set of five were on one day and a second set of five on the next, and then the first set back again on the next day. It made for a rotating schedule that  totaled to ten classes per semester; nine of them were required classes and one was an elective of your choice. Yusei chose HVAC because it was the closest this school had to genuine mechanical engineering. At least the class would be easy, and he certainly needed the good grades, but the accompanying tedium soured the joy he didn’t even feel for the lack of any interesting challenge.

But now this third class was drawing to a fruitless close and a cross between lunch and a study period would start. Well, it was called a “study period”, but the kids didn’t have to actually study. They were apparently given free reign so long as they did something with themselves. Most of the guys were planning to go play basketball while it seemed the girls preferred to watch while they ate and played around with their phones. At least, that’s what he could deduce from the scattered and rare exchanges that had nothing to do with his apparently bloodthirsty nature.

The teacher gathered her things and filed out of the room with an expression so spectacularly annoyed Yusei had to wonder again why she didn’t just call the class out. For some reason the teachers in Domino City were more reluctant to do so than Satellite teachers and he figured it was probably because it was a matter of detached professionalism. Teachers here taught because it was their job, while teachers in Satellite taught because they wanted to. That’s what made sense to him, anyways.

 For lunch Yusei had packed a small and modest meal because he had never been a big eater. No one in Satellite could really afford to be. Not that they were outright starving, just that they never had quite enough either. They were dropped monthly care packages of food, utilities, and sometimes cigarettes at distribution centers and what you were given is what you got. There were no grocery stores or restaurants or fast food joints if you and your family were still hungry. It was why cigarettes and food were the real currency of Satellite. In that way, Satellite and prison were very much alike.

He patiently waited for the kids to file out first because he suspected suddenly rising to leave would startle his already terrified classmates. Eventually it came to a point where only he and Muto were left after the latter shyly refused an offer to play with the excuse that any team that picked him always seemed to lose. While that may have been true, it seemed the boy was more interested in the strange game he was playing anyways. He didn’t even notice Yusei was looking at him for an extended period of time; an impressive feat when the rest of the class looked like a deer in headlights whenever he so much as turned his head in their general direction. The game must have been fun.

He had just left the classroom when he felt a violent shove on his left shoulder. A quick glance to the side revealed a sour-looking blonde and a sneering brunette, both of whom sent challenging looks at him.  
  
Yusei felt a mixture of bemusement and disbelief; it was silly that people were already picking fights with him for no real reason other than because he was branded. Those two were very lucky he was more collected than the hardened criminals from Satellite Correctional, otherwise they’d find themselves with a mouth full of broken teeth. Yusei knew they weren’t worth the trouble and had intended to leave without rising to the bait, but it didn’t escape his notice that something inside the classroom held their interest. After just a minute his keen ears picked up muffled yelling from a high voice. With a sinking feeling, he turned back and re-entered the classroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So first of all, we gotta get it clear that I ain't very detail oriented. I mean- ain't nobody got time for that ish! What I'm saying is, if I ever contradict my own writing, please tell me so I can fix it.


	2. Illegal Cats (IDK okay I suck at chapter titles)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Makin' dem' tomodachis in yer gakuen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh Yusei, you and your social awkwardness. Oh Judai, you and your illegal felines.

It would seem bullies were a universal presence, even in the supposedly utopian Domino City. Few things could set Yusei off as fast as bullying and certain people were quick to learn that. As he snatched the odd golden box out of the shorter bully’s hands, he hoped they would learn just as quickly.

“The hell-?!” The blonde sputtered when he felt the box suddenly leave his hands. He was lounging with a typical devil-may-care attitude and loose limbs, so it was easy to take. All eyes were on Yusei now, two angry sets and a round purple pair looking rather surprised.

The taller brunette growled. “Fudo? Here to pick a fight?”

His friend sneered. “‘Bout time. I was almost worried he was all talk.”

Yusei resisted the uncharacteristically immature urge to dignify the blonde’s goading with the fact that he had barely spoken a word all day. It was the kids’ neverending gossiping that made him out to be some kind of deranged psychopath. “You should go.” He said calmly, smothering a flash of annoyance.

“Why? What’re you gonna do about it?”

Nothing, so long as those two didn’t strike at him first. But Yusei knew a couple of hot-heads when he saw them and they weren’t likely to back down without a fight.

“What? Got nothin’? Figures, coming from Satellite trash! You’re just as stupid as Yugi and his weird box!”

“If it’s so stupid then why don’t you guys just leave him alone?!” A voice, sharp and feminine, called from the door behind Yusei. This time, all eyes were on a pretty brunette that Yusei recognized as the one that glared at him earlier. Her blue eyes were sharpened into a surprisingly fearsome glare that quickly zeroed on Yusei’s hand. “Give Yugi his box back, Fudo!” She marched up to him with all the intimidation her five-feet and four-inches could muster.

So she thought he was one of the bullies too…? He didn’t even bother trying to correct her and handed the box back to Yugi, who hadn’t yet taken off that expression of dumb shock. That slowness was definitely something Yusei had seen before; people who weren’t used to others caring enough to help them from trouble sometimes needed extra time to process when help finally came. The mechanic supposed Muto had been bullied for a long time.

One of the bullies scowled. “Nosy woman.” He was interrupted from whatever he was going to say next when his shoulder was clasped by the blonde, who forcibly turned his friend around.

“Whatever, man.” He said sourly as he directed the brunette with him. “This stupid shit ain’t worth it.”

There was barely a pregnant pause after they left before the girl turned her optical daggers back at Yusei. “And what about you?! Barely your first day and you’re already picking on someo-!”

Yusei himself was content to just silently let her rant false accusations and leave when she finally finished, but a small voice cut in, sounding almost desperate. “Anzu, no!”

“Huh?” She turned questioningly to the small boy, who had moved a little in front of Yusei like his tiny body could actually protect someone that had at least nine inches on him.

“F-Fudo-san helped me… He got the box back from Jonouchi-kun.” Muto sent a small and shy but grateful smile over his shoulder and the mechanic was struck with the odd thought that he was the first to truly smile at him besides Judai. Judai probably shouldn’t even count, because he was… odd.

“O-oh… Oh!” There was a delayed pause before the implications of Muto’s words struck a mental chord in Anzu, who instantly bowed apologetically. “I’m so sorry! I opened the door and saw you with Yugi’s box so I had assumed…”

Yusei held out a hand. “It’s fine.” He said quickly. As much as it soothed his slightly bruised patience for someone to finally realize he didn’t prowl around at night for orphans and puppy blood, it had always embarrassed him a little to be thanked or apologized to so vehemently.

She looked a little reluctant, but thankfully let it be. “Well, I’m Mazaki Anzu. Thanks for helping Yugi.”

“Oh, right! I’m Muto Yugi.” Muto introduced himself and beamed, purple eyes bright and shining. “But… wow, thank you Fudo-san!” Muto beamed and Yusei began to feel incredibly self-conscious, fighting down a light blush at so much thanks and praise and smiles that he never was used to in the first place and had forgotten how to deal with. “And thank you Anzu! One word from you and they actually ran away!”   
  
_‘Probably because they aren’t the type to hit girls._ ’ Yusei mused, familiar with the difference between a couple of punk kids and real, dangerous criminals.

Mazaki sighed. “You don’t need to thank me. It just really bothers me to see nice guys like you get pushed around.” She huffed and Yusei saw another small rant coming on. “Honestly, almost all the guys in our class are the worst! Just the other day they actually invited the girls to play and I immediately suspected something was up..."

Yusei wondered if he should just grab his lunch and slip out now that his business was done here. Where had he set it down again…? Right, on that desk over there.

“Oh… a-are you going Fudo-san?” Muto’s voice and openly disappointed face surprised him as he made for the door with his lunch in tow.

“Well-” he started, honestly not sure what to say now. The boy was friendly, but Yusei thought he would have wanted to have lunch with his friend.

Maybe Muto understood what he was thinking or maybe it was just in his nature to be so open, because he extended a shy invitation to eat with him and Mazaki. The mechanic didn’t know anywhere private he could go yet and the two here were probably the only ones in school who wouldn’t either stare or try to pick a fight. He quietly moved a chair to the side of the short teen’s desk, as Mizaki was sitting across from Muto, who was sitting in his normal seat.

”So,” Mazaki started as Yusei settled in. “what’s in that box anyways?”

The shorter teen visibly perked. “Well, I guess I can show you two. But promise me you’ll keep it a secret!”

“Sure.” The brunette smiled and Yusei quietly nodded. It wasn’t like he had anyone to tell besides Judai, and Judai is probably one of the nicest people he’s ever met.

At their agreement, Muto was more than happy to show off his treasure. The lid came off to reveal an assortment of shining golden pieces of various shapes and sizes.

She gasped and examined a piece. “They glitter like gold… Yugi, they’re so pretty! But they’re disconnected and have some pretty weird shapes. Are they parts to something?”

Yusei was initially hesitant to take a piece from the pile because refraining from touching nice things that didn’t belong to him was a hard lesson learned a long time ago. After a minute he caved in the face of Muto’s encouraging smile and gingerly picked one up to examine it. They didn’t feel like decorative plastic; it would seem the pieces were all solid gold. Come to think of it, the box itself looked like it was made of gold too. He frowned and his brow creased a little. It was dangerous to take something so valuable to school. If those kids realized just how valuable the trinkets were Yusei doubted Muto would have it for much longer. He opened his mouth to say as much when the boy started up again.

“It’s a puzzle!” He declared eagerly, ecstatic from being able to share his treasure and from Misaki’s enthusiasm. “I’ve never completed it and there aren’t any pictures of the finished product, so I don’t know what it’s supposed to be. There’s a riddle for it too: “You have seen it, but it can’t be seen.”’

“I live in a game shop.” Muto explained to Yusei. “There’s all sorts of rare and unusual and exotic games for sale there. This one was just sitting in the corner and gathering dust when I found it. Now I just like to think of it as a potential memento of grandpa.”

A horrified look crossed Mazaki’s visage while the short teen was bent over his puzzle box, fiddling around with the pieces. Her face grew sad for a second before Muto looked back up and she quickly strained to smile again.

So Muto’s grandfather is dead? Hopefully it was something peaceful and natural instead of sickness or worse. Yusei didn’t have any biological family that he could speak of and never knew who his parents were, but he did have a surrogate family in his friends back in Satellite. He hoped they were okay without him; he was the one who really looked out for everyone and took care of problems. He prayed no one was taking advantage of his absence to mess with his friends.

He was pulled out his darker train of thought when he noticed the other two staring at him with twin looks of amusement. “...What?” He asked, embarrassed at being caught spacing out like an airhead.

“Well… you’ll keep it secret, right Fudo-san?” Muto asked, red-faced and bashful.

Yusei’s brow furrowed. Did he still not trust him to keep his puzzle a secret? “I thought I already said yes?”

Misaki laughed. “No, you must have missed the entire conversation.”

“O-Oh, well that’s okay!” The shortest teen said quickly.

“It’s written on Yugi’s box that anyone who solves it will have a wish granted.” The brunette explained with a mischievous smile.

“You didn’t have to tell him, Anzu!”

“But it _is_ a really nice thought!”

After his own wishes blew up in his face and cost him months of his life, Yusei himself was a little more cautious when it came to wishes. They really could grant someone a lot of hope for the future, but that only made it more painful when they shattered. It was important to have a sense of realism, but he wasn’t about to ever discourage anyone. “It is.” He said simply. “But I won’t tell if you don’t want me to.”

That seemed to assuage Muto’s frazzled nerves as he sighed in visible relief. He glanced worriedly at his friend. “Anzu…”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone else. You can trust me.” She winked. “So what’s your wish when you solve it?”

Muto grinned. “That’s a secret!”

The rest of their lunch period and accompanying recess were spent in peaceful conversation. Yusei himself was mostly quiet and content to listen to other two chatter, pitching in the occasional comment. It was nice- this was nice. It had been a while since he was able to enjoy eating with pleasant company and listen to meaningless, amiable chatter. He had missed it.

All too soon, lunch was over and the kids were starting to trickle back in… and immediately began whispering at the sight of him sitting with the runt of the class and the- “Class Rep”? Whatever that was, they must have been referring to Mazaki. Resisting the urge to shake his head, he put away the chair he borrowed to sit on and returned to his desk. The rest of the day rolled by until the final bell for the school day rang. He checked the chart for cleaning duty on his way out and seeing his name wasn’t on for today, he quickly headed for his bike. As much as he wanted to keep riding it to school he had a sinking feeling it would be in danger of vandalism now that most of the student body knew it was his. He lived close enough to school anyways, so walking wouldn’t be a problem.

On his way out, he spotted Muto with a downright massive student and the small teen was looking very uncomfortable. But by the time he reached the two the conversation had apparently finished. “Muto-san.”

Said boy jumped at the sound of his name. “O-oh, Fudo-san!” He smiled.

Yusei looked at him for a while, just checking if he was okay. The kid looked fine but… Well, was it really any of his business?

“U-um…”

Ah, he was staring. “Nothing.” It looked like everything was okay and it wasn’t really his place to nose around in Muto’s affairs if there wasn’t an apparent problem. He parked his bike to the left of the entrance, opposite of where Muto was going. He inclined his head as goodbye.

“A-ah, Fudo-san!”

Yusei stopped at the sound of his voice and turned questioningly.

“See you tomorrow?” He asked, shyly.

The mechanic had a feeling something was happening here, but he couldn’t quite figure it out. Instead of standing around and trying to puzzle out abstract social developments, he just did what felt like the right thing to do. He nodded. “Yeah.”

He rode home with an oddly light feeling in his chest. The last time he felt that was a long time ago, with his family back in Satellite, surrounded by laughter and familiarity. Maybe that abstract social development was making his first friend in Domino City.

He arrived to his and Judai’s shared apartment to the odd sight of his roommate talking to himself. As a quiet person Yusei didn’t do that sort of thing, but plenty of his friends did so it wasn’t the act itself that was strange. What was strange was that when people talked to themselves, it was usually quiet mumbling as they followed and developed their train of thought aloud. When Judai talked to himself, it was loud and energized- almost like a genuine conversation with someone the mechanic couldn’t see. “Judai-san?” He furrowed his brow, trying to puzzle out the odd sight. Once their living arrangements had been made official, Judai insisted that his new “roomie” call him by his first name. Since they were going to be seeing a lot of each other they might as well forgo the formality reserved for strangers and casual acquaintances.

The brunette jumped a little. “Hey, Yusei! I didn’t hear you come in. How was school?”

“It was fine.” It was a bit annoying at first, but Muto and Misaki helped assuage his frayed patience at the end.

He laughed. “Just fine? If it’s just fine you’re not doing it right! Live it up man- you only go to high school once!”

As silly as Judai’s words were, his energy was infectious and Yusei couldn’t repress a light smile in the face of so much unadulterated cheer. When he had first been told of Godwin’s assigned living quarters in a different apartment he had immediately recoiled and insisted he’d find himself a place to live. Unfortunately, he underestimated just how expensive living in the city was and might have had to resort to living in one of the more hazardous districts if he hadn’t met Judai. Yusei was eating lunch in one of the few places that didn’t refuse him on sight and was searching through a public terminal to find a good place to live when a flash of red blurred into the booth across from him.

_“Hey there.” The strange man grinned; the expression wasn’t nervous or conniving. In fact, the only thing more bizarre than his sudden appearance was how natural his smile was._

_Thrown off, the newly released Yusei could only nod in baffled greeting. “Can I…?”_

_“Yes, in fact! And I think I can help you too.” The stranger answered his question before he even really asked it. “I see from your terminal you’re looking for a place to live, right?”_

_The teen immediately narrowed blue eyes and nodded cautiously. “I am.”_

_The man across him didn’t miss a beat even in the face of open suspicion. “Well, I’m sure you noticed it’s pretty expensive here in the city so I’ll make this quick for us. You see, I’m a dirt-poor college student starting his second year in NDU but doesn’t have a place to stay anymore because his last roommates graduated. If you and I both need a decent place to stay but can’t afford it, then why don’t we become roommates and split the costs?” The man must have deduced Yusei’s lack of funds by the trackers on his face. It was a practice reserved solely for Satellites, and everyone knew Satellites didn’t have any money._

_But Yusei’s suspicion wasn’t assuaged in the slightest. One didn’t last as long as he has by being trusting. “And how can I know it’s safe to trust you?"_

_“Sheesh, you’re a tough kid.” Even more than the suspicious luck of a man with needs that matched his own just happening by, the mechanic couldn’t believe how unyielding that cheerful smile was. “How do you know you can’t?”_

_“Experience.”_

_Finally, the smile was wiped off his face and Yusei couldn’t explain the niggling feeling of regret. “Me too, believe it or not.” And the teenager almost didn’t if not for the look in the newcomer’s eye. “And I hate to say it, but you’re not in a position to play it safe. If you don’t take a chance on me you’ll have to risk the dangerous parts of Domino to afford a place. Or do you think some other guy will come along and offer to board with you, a branded criminal? Did you consider that I’m taking a risk too?”_

_No, actually. The stranger was so cheerful it hadn’t crossed his mind that he knew he was taking a risk talking to a criminal and offering to board with him, especially when he didn’t even know what specific crimes he committed. “You_ are _taking a pretty big risk, talking to a branded criminal like me. What makes you so sure I won’t hurt you?” It was a bold question that would’ve sent the average Domino citizen immediately backtracking, but Judai held true and plucky when any other guy would’ve reconsidered. Yusei instinctively knew that was the norm for the stranger in red._

_“Yup, but I’m sorta like you right now. I don’t have much of a choice. I mean, I guess I could go find a non-criminal roommate, but I like to think I’m a good judge of character.” There was something odd about the way he said that, something meaningful that compelled Yusei to believe him. Made him want to believe. “You don’t have the face of a bad guy.” And Judai smiled at him, again. The odd thought just occurred to Yusei that before him was the first person in Domino to genuinely smile at him. Not the plastic, practiced smiles of Godwin or the nervous smiles of Domino citizens eager to get away from him, but the simple human expression of affability._

_He might admit privately that he was pretty much sold at that point._

“He-llo? Yusei?”

He had been caught buried in his thoughts again- why did that keep happening today? “I’m sorry, did you say something?”

“Sheesh, you always look serious, but you’re actually kind of a space case, aren’t you?” Judai laughed.

He kind of was. Yusei didn’t talk much, but that was just another way of saying he preoccupied himself with his mind rather than his mouth. He didn’t dignify his roommate with an answer.

“I was asking if you still wanted that duel today. I got some time if you don’t have any _homework_.” The way Judai said the word “homework” was like the very concept was a particularly cute joke. Well, he definitely had homework, some of which were for subjects he found himself to be sorely behind in, but the alternating schedule gave him a generous amount of time to do it- two days.

Though that didn’t mean he was one to lie unnecessarily. “I do, but I have today and tomorrow to do it.”

Judai whistled. “ _Procrastinating?_ Yusei, I almost believed you didn’t have it in you.”

“Just go get your deck.” He said in amusement while his roommate hopped rather than stood up and charged for his cards.

“I hope you’re ready to get your butt kicked!” Judai laughed from his room.

Yusei almost couldn’t believe it; his butt got kicked into the mud, dunked in a vat of ice water, and was then squeezed and wrung out to dry. He wasn’t beaten so soundly, but his opponent turned the tables from seemingly out of nowhere so suddenly that he was left trying to piece together the last few seconds of _“What just happened?”_

“Gotcha!” The brunette winked and made an odd gesture with his hand. “That was pretty fun. You’re a great duelist, Yusei- you almost had me there!”

He really did. The Satellite was so sure he had Judai on the ropes. It had been a while and a lot of card games since he lost to anyone. “You also, Judai-san. Your Elemental Heroes and fusion strategies were impressive.” The deck was seemingly unreliable just by the concept, but it sacrificed reliable balance for versatility and strong effects. With just a single draw Judai could turn the tide of an entire duel.

“Thanks, but your Syncro summons were nothin’ to sneeze at either!” Yusei accepted the comment as graciously as he could, even if it was painful to think that his deck was currently so incomplete.

_Meow._

Judai froze. “Ah… Haha.”

The high schooler crossed his arms. “Judai-san, what was that noise?”

“Did I ever mention we have a third roommate?”

“ _No._ ”

The brunette opened the sliding door to his room and kneeled. Just as Yusei feared, a skinny brown furball was buried in the crook of his arm when he turned around. There was a long silence.

“No.”

“But-”

“ _W_ _hy_ did you bring your cat?” Pets were very much against the rules, according to their landlady, and they could be kicked out if it were discovered. Of all the things the Satellite pictured himself getting kicked out of the apartment for, this was certainly not one of them.

“He’s not mine, but he had nowhere else to go!” Judai pleaded, brown eyes big and imploring.

Yusei sighed. “Judai-san, you know we can’t keep it. Why didn’t you take it to an adoption center? It would be taken care of there. We can’t afford to get kicked out over a cat.”

“He was left in a cardboard box! In the cold!” The harsh resentment in the normally sunny and amiable voice frankly surprised the mechanic. “Look at him- he’s clearly starving!”

He looked at the bedraggled and ratty little thing, nosing into Judai’s thin arms, and couldn’t deny the small pull in his chest. Small, dirty, and unwanted. Those concepts were not unfamiliar to a Satellite. “...Do you really want to risk our home for him?”

“Yes.” His roommate looked him straight in the eye. It figured; the college student was definitely not the type to change his mind once he set his heart on something. His bold, risk-taking nature was the whole reason they were even rooming together.

“...Alright.” Yusei sighed, uncrossing his arms. It was always in his nature to try and be more reasonable and responsible than his age, but he liked to think he wasn’t heartless.

“Yes! Yusei, you’re _awesome!_ ” The new cat owner quickly but carefully set his mangy feline down and before he knew it Judai was in the air and his vision was filled with brown hair and black fabric. His roommate was _hugging_ him.

Yusei was not at all accustomed to close physical contact. The last person to hug him was his matron from when he was still a little kid- even Rally, young as he is, was never one for touching and hugging. His arms hesitantly nudged at Judai’s arms, gently communicating to him to please let go.

Not that his roommate was one to give up in the face of a lack of reciprocation, the memory of their first meeting once again striking most prominently in Yusei’s mind, but he seemed to take pity on him and his discomfort just this once. Judai’s arms, wiry and deceptive to how much surprising strength they possessed, released their captive. The brunette grinned at Yusei’s mixed reaction of discomfort and embarrassment- it wasn’t that he outright disliked physical proximity, just that he wasn’t in any form accustomed to it. His eyes zeroed on Judai’s cocky grin, like he thought kidnapping him from his comfort zone was a victory.

And his initial discomfort aside, maybe it was. It had been too long since anyone was so comfortable with him, since anyone saw him as human enough to hug.

The next day found him sitting with Muto again with Misaki nowhere to be seen.

“Sometimes she gets busy with her duties as class rep.” He explained before a jaw-cracking yawn. “Ah, sorry! I stayed up late working on the puzzle.”

He nodded, “How far did you get?”

“Ah-ha, not very far… It’s hard.”

“You’ll get it.”

Muto beamed and Yusei still hadn’t gotten used to being smiled at by anyone but Judai. It was different when his roommate smiled at him, probably because Judai seemed the type to smile at everything. The rest of lunch passed in companionable silence, save for the occasional exchange. Unlike most people, Muto didn’t seem to mind Yusei’s quiet nature.

“Muto-san, do you know where the nearest restroom is?”

“Oh, once you’re out the door go left and down the hall- it’ll be to your right.”

When Yusei returned, Muto had gone somewhere. He frowned; it wasn’t at all Muto’s kind and considerate nature to just up and leave with no explanation. The only thing he could think of was either he was called up by the school for something or a classmate pulled him away. He waited for a solid fifteen minutes before he got suspicious enough to go look for him. Yusei scribbled a quick note and left it on Muto’s desk in case the gamer returned and confirmed he was just paranoid.

The mechanic was careful in his search to not get lost himself by deciding to look outside first and checking empty classrooms along the way outside. It was during his search in the schoolyard that he found his classmate in a bruised and crumpled heap in a shadowed niche. “Muto-san!” He said, checking over the small teen when the corner of his eye spotted a pile of limbs looking even worse. It was the blonde and his friend from the day before.

“Ah, F-Fudo-san…”

 _“What happened here?”_ He demanded in a hard tone. If there wasn’t such a pressing matter before him, he’d have been surprised to hear the harsh voice of an inmate. He was trying to leave some of that stuff behind in his effort to rebuild lives, but it looked like it wouldn’t ever truly go away.

The boy visibly quailed at his tone and he knew he would have to take it down a level or five if he didn’t want to scare him witless. “Listen… tell me who did this.” He could ask ‘why’ while his foot was stuck firmly in the assailant’s sternum. Somewhere along the past two days the kind face that made him think of Rally and all the oppressed of Satellite had become something of a substitute for his surrogate family. A surrogate for surrogates; Yusei wasn’t sure if Muto would be offended or amused.

The object of his thoughts shook his tri-colored head. “N-No, don’t worry about it Fudo-san.”

 _“You expect me to be okay with this?”_ Yusei wasn’t one to raise his voice and his tone compensated this with severe inflections whenever he got angry.

“No! I just… I can handle this, okay?”

“You’re right. The bruises on your face say you definitely can.” Sarcasm was always another sign Yusei was upset. Yusei fixed Muto with a long, hard stare that the latter wouldn’t meet and there was a very long time spent in stony silence. “...Fine.” It was clear he wouldn’t get an answer out of the kid any way he looked at it.

The kid sent him a grateful look and took the Satellite’s offered hand. “Thank you...” He glanced at the pair not far from him. “What should we do with them?”

Yusei inspected them with an experienced eye and knowledgeable hands. “It looks like they’ll be fine.” He didn’t feel any broken bones and, even more telling, the pair’s breathing was even and unhindered. The blonde’s eyes were rapidly moving from under his lids.

“A-Are you sure?”

“Positive.” No matter how they treated Muto they were still just kids. Yusei wouldn’t let anything seriously bad happen to them.

“I guess I should get home then...”

When they both agreed to go home, Yusei wasn’t too surprised to note they both made a left outside the school gate. What surprised him is that they continued to make the same turns. Eventually, the short puzzle-lover questioned this. “Um, Fudo-san? Do you live in this direction?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh.”

They walked the rest of the way in silence, with Muto’s face growing more and more a mixture of confusion and incredulity the more turns and the more sidewalks they mutually took. The two were nearing Yusei’s shared apartment and he stopped in front of it.

“Fudo-san?” He questioned.

“This is my stop.”

“What?! No way!” He jumped slightly at soft-spoken Muto’s unexpected outburst and gave him a questioning look. The other blushed. “Sorry, it’s just- it’s so _nice_ and I live so close to you. My house is just two houses down… the one with the red roof.” He pointed to his home; it was so close to Yusei’s apartment that he could see it clearly even from where he was standing.

The flat he stayed in was medium-sized and gleaming with crystal glass and delicate landscaping, but besides a pretty garden and nice frosted windows it wasn’t anything particularly glamorous. It was chosen because it had just a little more elbow room in terms of living space and it’s location was close to both Neo Domino University and Domino Senior High. The latter is what made the place so expensive. Location was the largest determining factor for the cost of living in the city. Yusei suspected Muto pictured him to live in a seedy dump and he _would_ have if he had not met Judai.

“Huh.” Yusei hummed, unsure how to respond beyond the small sound.

“...M-Maybe you could come see the game shop sometime?” Muto shyly suggested after another pregnant silence.

“Sure. Not today though- you need to get yourself treated first.” It probably wouldn’t be a good idea to burden Muto with a guest when he had injuries to treat and a body that needed rest.

He nodded. “Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then…” They parted ways after that, Muto heading two houses down to his game shop and Yusei into his shared apartment.

This time Yusei wasn’t greeted to the sight of Judai chattering to himself. “Hey, you’re back!” The brunette greeted, looking up from a paper he was bent over, furry cat curled against his thigh.

“Hello.” The high-schooler slipped his shoes off and placed them neatly beside his roommate’s haphazardly tossed shoes. “What are you doing there?”

“Just some physics homework.” Judai cocked his head briefly and a thoughtful look crossed his eyes before he turned back around and swiftly wrote a complicated paragraph of numbers and symbols without even pausing. Yusei knew from his roommate’s textbooks that he was smart, but this was _ridiculous_.

He wouldn’t deny to himself that he felt a little self-conscious in the face of such dramatic intelligence. “...I’ll leave you to that then.” For all his matron tried, his education in Satellite was lackluster and informal at best and he was already struggling in most of his classes. If he could even read the complicated written word of the pages he would more likely than not find he still had no idea what they were talking about. It turned out that the writings in the city used a fancy combination of kanji and kana. A single sentence would be interchangeably sprinkled with letters from any of the three alphabets. Yusei only knew hiragana and katakana to a more limited extent and barely knew a handful of kanji, so he dreaded the day he would be given a written test.

When Godwin listed his first condition of doing well in school, Yusei couldn’t have possibly imagined the sheer magnitude of challenge found even in the most minute details. He would ask Judai for advice, but his roommate had his own studies to deal with.

“Hm? What’s wrong, Yusei?”

He’d been spacing out again. “It’s nothing.” He dismissed, suppressing a light flush at being caught repeatedly in his thoughts.

The other male looked slightly reluctant. “Well, you know that if I can ever help I’d be more than happy to, right?”

The admission surprised Yusei- an offer of support was not… He hadn’t been offered unconditional support in a long time. Even before the correctional facility, when he’d been surrounded by his friends and family, he’d always been so independent that his friends knew better than to offer help that he wouldn’t accept. _He_ protected his friends from the gangs and the thugs that wanted their food and medicine, and _he_ guided and supported them through their troubles. Yusei had always been the level-headed voice of reason and encouragement. When the time came that he was arrested and he the one who needed help it wasn’t possible to receive any, so he once again took care of himself.

Despite his sunny and carefree attitude, Judai had proved himself astute and reliable and Yusei respected him for that. “Thank you, but I’d rather see if I can take care of it myself.” He conceded, showing his appreciation by admitting there was a problem.

Judai seemed to have understood that because he grinned brightly. It was both strange and intimidating to have someone he’d barely met understand him so easily. He’d be lying if he, someone who always held his thoughts close, said it didn’t unsettle him a bit. Yusei decided that if he reached the end of his second week of school and still couldn’t catch up, he would ask his roommate for advice.

The next day Yusei was met with an… odd sight. He wasn’t sure if there was any other word to describe his behemoth of a classmate rolling around in a pile of leaves and garbage like it was money.

“Money! Money! So much money…!”

He didn’t think he needed any more proof that drugs were _bad_. At the of sight of the whispering and gossiping students, he wondered if no one was actually thinking of getting a teacher or something.

The morning got even weirder when he entered the classroom to the sight of the blonde bully, now bandaged and properly patched up, sitting at Muto’s desk like it was the most natural thing to do. Judging by the ecstatic look on the gamer’s face, they must have been getting along.

“Ah, good morning Fudo-san!” Muto greeted while his visitor squinted dark brown eyes at him.

“Good morning.” Yusei replied to his neighbor while returning the blonde’s gaze.

“Hey.” The blonde started, lips pursed. “I stopped messing around with Yugi and I shouldn’t have said that stuff to you, so.” He said, looking a bit awkward and out of place. Yusei supposed this must be his way of apologizing and making amends, since he was probably too proud to say it straight out.

He inclined his head in acknowledgement, and the former bully looked relieved that it was over and done with so seamlessly. Muto beamed, happy to see everyone getting along even after such a rough first meeting. “Fudo-kun…” Muto apprehensively started whatever he was going to say with a more familiar honorific, probably worried Yusei might be offended. Truth be told, he didn’t care at all what other people addressed him with. He himself was only the picture of politeness because he was raised to speak softly and carry a big stick.

“I’m fine with anything.” He answered, and Muto was visibly pleased by the permission to start addressing him with more familiarity.

“Fudo-kun,” He said, a little more exuberantly, “This is Jonouchi Katsuya-kun. Jonouchi-kun, this is Fudo Yusei-kun.”

So that was his name. “Please treat me well.” He said, as polite introduction.

“Yeah, same.” Jonouchi said, with a casualness that reached levels of rude according to City etiquette. Satellite, while it was by no means uncivilized, definitely lacked the excessive sense of formality and propriety that plagued the city’s every social interaction. In Satellite, Yusei was considered an oddball for his excessive politeness, whereas he was considered to be rude within Domino at times when he didn’t know the proper way of doing or saying something. Jonouchi’s casual attitude would fit in well with his home.

The pair settled into what would be a quickly established routine of the three and occasionally Masaki gathering around Muto’s desk, chattering while Yusei quietly observed and pitched a comment or two while they waited for the first bell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that was chapter two! To be truthful, I've had the first three chapters written up for about half a year now. (=w= ;;; ) 
> 
> The warm reception of chapter one encourages me to continue this fic. Don't expect chapter three to be up as quick as this one though. I really don't want to post it until chapter four is done. Basically, I want to be one chapter ahead of every post in case I get busy and can't write.


	3. Spoiled

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our favorite asshole appears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is way later than I thought it'd be. In preparing for the upcoming spring break, school had decided to shat on us with unnecessary work. For the sake of continuity, all Yu-Gi-Oh characters of the first series will appear as their post season 0 designs. So no red-eyed Anzu or green-haired Kaiba here folks.

The next couple of days passed relatively peacefully, with their little group getting along unexpectedly well. Mazaki, who was a little bossy but was hard-working and looked out for everyone, Jonouchi, who was crass and impulsive but undeniably loyal, and Muto, who was trusting and naive but was one of the kindest people he'd ever met.

And today...

"Yugi, some new cards came in today!" He heard from the door as he followed his new friends into Muto's home, which was also a game shop.

"That's great, Jii-chan! I brought some friends."  
  
"Oh?" Muto's grandfather was a kindly-looking old man and was on the shorter side for his age, much like his grandson. However, unlike Muto's wiry frame, Muto-ojiisan had a stocky and broad build with strong shoulders and hands. It reminded him a bit of the stouter characters in Satellite; Yusei wondered if he worked with his hands much when he was younger. Muto-ojiisan's round purple eyes took in the group of teens, wandering from face to face before they stopped on Yusei in the back.  
  
"And who are your new friends, Yugi?" Muto-ojiisan asked, his throaty voice still light and kindly despite his unreadable eyes never leaving Yusei. He found himself regretting come here; all his presence would do today is upset Muto and his grandfather.

Muto paused for a very brief moment, but continued before it became too noticeable. However, from the corner of his vision, Yusei could see their entire group of friends glancing between him and Muto-ojiisan. "Jii-chan, this is Jonouchi Katsuya-kun and Fudo Yusei-kun."

"Please treat me well."

"Nice to meet ya."

"Ho?" The elder hummed, stroking his gray beard in thought as his eyes scrutinized Yusei. Then, just as Yusei figured Jonouchi was going to say something confrontational, the old man's visage changed completely. "Well then, welcome to my shop you two!" He chuckled, a deep, rumbling sound in the back of his throat, and Muto grew an ecstatic look on his face at what seemed to be his grandfather's approval. "I'm Muto Sugoroku, pleased to meet you. Good to see you again, Anzu-chan." He winked at Mazaki, who grunted back uncharacteristically rudely.

The old man took it in stride, like it was something of a routine, and Yusei figured there must have been a story behind that. Frankly, he was surprised Muto's grandfather would be so amicable with him; acceptance was typically a fantasy in Domino City for someone like him.  
  
"What kind of cards came in Jii-chan?"

"Oh! Come to the counter and I'll show you!" With a vigor and energy that belied his age, he scuttled behind the counter and hauled a cardboard box onto the counter. He chuckled his deep and throaty laugh. "This card game is especially popular in America! It's called Duel Monsters!" He brandished two familiar cards and Yusei's heart stuttered just at the sight of his favorite game. The game had caught on well in Satellite, for those who could scrounge enough cards from the garbage tossed out by the city, but he had hardly seen so much as a card in Domino City.  
  
"Right now it's still a bit niche, but there are already television tournaments and even some Japanese champions. I get the feeling it will catch on here in Japan within the year." He explained proudly, handing out cards to his curious classmates. "Yusei-kun, wouldn't you like to see one too?" He invited with a kindly crease in his eye, once he noticed Yusei lingering in the back.  
  
Taken aback by the open welcome, he mutely took one to look at. As expected, it was a card he's never seen before and he privately relished the happiness seeing new cards always gave him. "Oh, thank you." He said belatedly and with a quietness commonly attached to his words. The elder seemed amused by something and turned his attention back to their group as a whole.

"Each card has a picture and various descriptions that read how the card works. There are thousands of different cards, each with their own strengths and weaknesses." He explained.  
  
Mazaki held two gingerly. "The illustrations are amazingly detailed- but some of them look kind of grotesque..." She grimaced a little at a particularly violent-looking card with a screaming woman.

"How do you play with them?" Jonouchi asked curiously, quickly rifling through them and glancing at two or three at once. He was an energetic kind of guy, always doing things at a fast, reckless pace.

Yusei couldn't really let that slide. "Be more careful with them." He admonished softly.  
  
"Er- right. Sorry gramps." He sheepishly slowed down his rummaging and apologized to the owner.

Muto started to explain the rules, well, just the basics of attacking and defending with monsters. There was a lot more to Duel Monsters than that. Yusei couldn't ever resist talking about his favorite game whenever the topic came up. "There are also spell and trap cards for more complex strategies." He added.

"Oh, do you play too Fudo-kun?" Muto asked, round eyes delighted.

"Yeah."

Muto's grandfather seemed pleased by their genuine interest and added more information. "Since there are so many different cards, some are rarer than others. There are cards so rare they're worth more than a house!"  
  
Jonouchi seemed especially baffled by this. "No way! Just for one little card?"

"Actually, Jii-chan has a pretty rare one right here in the shop." Muto said with a big and knowing smile. "Can you show them?"  
  
The old man snickered with obvious pride, looking mischievously gleeful to show off. Well, Yusei couldn't deny anyone the right to be proud of their cards. "Well, since you asked. I suppose I could." He took out a small locked box from underneath the counter and inserted a key that he fished from out of his pocket. "Here it is, the Blue Eyes White Dragon!" He brandished the beautiful card proudly.

"Wow, it's so pretty, but it's also kind of solemn-looking too..." Mazaki leaned in admiringly. Yusei was surprised that he didn't notice, but she was right. The dragon was beautiful and majestic, but there was also a note of quiet solemnity and solitude in it's eye. That's the feeling he got anyways. From the first card he saw, Yusei always had a strange connection to the monsters in the cards, getting inexplicable, niggling sensations about them that others didn't. Most of his friends chalked it up to their unexpectedly spacey friend and his imagination, but Yusei himself never could.

"Hey, let's play some tomorrow you two!" Jonouchi grinned, brought on board and looking excited to try the game for himself. He and Muto immediately clamored around the desk to pick out cards to buy, but Yusei didn't want to spend much money this early in his stay at Domino City. There was a metallic ring from behind to signal a new customer entering the shop.

"Welcome!" Muto-ojiisan greeted the tall youth dressed in a crisp white suit. Yusei immediately felt his stomach clench and his teeth rattle at the sight. His experiences with Godwin taught him to pick up the tells of a practiced smile and the plastic air of polite interest. Despite the young face, the smiling newcomer was an uncanny replica of that polished demeanor hiding a ruthless hound his handler liked to wear. "So this is where you live, Muto-san?" He said with a thin smile that stretched his face like stiff dough left to dry out until it was unusable.

Muto, friendly and oblivious as always, didn't notice a thing off with him. "Oh, you're Kaiba-kun, from my class!" What? Yusei didn't remember a single face that looked anything like Kaiba's, and he would, when it so starkly reminded him of the one person he detested the most from this city. He felt a cold chill and found ice blue eyes staring at him like they were two holes punched into a serene landscape to reveal the true backdrop, a frosty wasteland.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry." The ritzy boy read the mental script he was following and apologized with sincerity to match. "It's only that I've never... well." He said, awkwardly touching his face in a mechanical mimicry of genuine fluster. "This is the first time I've seen such a nice branded."

Before Yusei could say anything in return, Jonouchi cut in irritably. "Don't call 'im that."

"His name's Fudo Yusei." Mazaki frowned, joining the blonde with gusto. Even Muto looked disapproving of Kaiba.  
  
"Oh, you're right. I'm truly sorry, I must confess I'm more than a little sheltered. I can say insensitive things sometimes." Kaiba sensed his misstep and backtracked with the grace of a true conversationalist, sprinkling superficial self-deprecation in a pantomime of true humility.  
  
It worked like a charm. His trio of classmates bought it with understanding looks. "Well, I can't say we weren't the same way, so I can get where you're coming from." Mazaki admitted with an apologetic look to Yusei, who held up hand in a forgiving gesture to her.

"Just don't do it again." Jonouchi grunted.

"Of course." Kaiba smiled at Yusei and he felt a cold, biting wind. "We should introduce each other properly, Fudo-kun. I'm Kaiba Seto."  
  
"Fudo Yusei." He said politely, hiding his distaste with the thought that he couldn't afford catty feuds. Kaiba hasn't done anything anyone else hasn't done here, and so long as he doesn't do anything against him or his friends Yusei can get along just fine. Though, he still couldn't think of any moment in which he saw Kaiba in his class.

"So you're playing Duel Monsters?" Kaiba seamlessly redirected conversation away from his blunder and erased the awkward atmosphere with his flawless composure.

Muto perked up like he tended to do whenever a game was in the discussion. "Yeah, do you play it too, Kaiba-kun? Hey, maybe we should all play together!"

"Me? With you...?" That seemed to throw Kaiba for a loop and he stared at Muto like he didn't quite know what he was seeing. Then his face rearranged itself into it's carefully composed order and the brief pause only lasted for a second. "Well, wait a second. I don't know if you guys are even good enough to play against me. Let me see your cards." And just like that, Yusei's opinion dropped a little lower. It was fine to have confidence, but regardless if Kaiba was truly that skilled he shouldn't dismiss other players.

Kaiba snorted, and the first crack in his carefully crafted mask of polite nobility appeared. "Heh, no way. You're a total beginner; you wouldn't even last a minute against me. I'm the reigning champion from the national Duel Monsters tournament and I've collected nothing but the strongest cards for years."

"Strong cards aren't the only technique to winning, nor are they all that matter in the game." Yusei cut in, his unexpected interjection causing his friends to look at him in surprise. He wasn't one to argue, so it was understandable.

The reigning champion sent him a condescending look, "Come back and tell me that when you've won a championship or two. I won't waste my time on anyone less." Kaiba smoothly ignored Jonouchi's frothing and Muto's struggle to hold the blonde back with grace and poise that spoke years of experience with pissing people off and getting away with it.

Visibly bored with them at this point, the brunette went to the counter to conduct business. "Hey Ojii-san, you sell and buy cards here, right?" Kaiba asked, using the polite form of address for Muto-ojiisan, though Yusei could tell it was mocking.

The elder Muto struck him as sharp enough to notice, but was too patient to let it or Kaiba's rude behavior bother him. "Yes, of course." He said with a genteel smile. It was at that moment Kaiba's eyes had wandered to the valuable card on the counter. For a moment, the brunette went rock still and time seemed to freeze.  
  
"O-Ojii-san...! How... this card! What's it-? Let me see it!" The youth's composure suddenly shattered completely and fragments of sentences gracelessly tumbled out of his previously smooth and charismatic mouth. His attempt to grab at the card was foiled when a wrinkled hand snatched it off the counter with surprising speed.

"Well, I suppose you can just look." Muto-ojiisan said with a mischievous twinkle in his round eyes. He passed it to Kaiba over the counter, who took it with shaking hands. There was a long and uncomfortable pause in which the youth in white just bowed his head and stared at it, leaving everyone visibly wondering as to what he was thinking and leaving Yusei more than a little worried.

"How much?" Kaiba said, the first thing he said for a solid two minutes.

A throaty laugh and a winkled hand plucked the card out of his hands, much to Kaiba's visible annoyance. "I'm afraid this one is not for sale."

In response, a disconcertingly determined look hardened his face. "Fine. I'll trade you this entire briefcase for that single card." The steel briefcase he had been carrying with him was slammed onto the counter with the force of purpose and the contents were revealed to be crammed from corner to corner with cards, some of which Yusei could visibly see were quite nice.

"That's unbelievable!"  
  
"His trunk is stuffed with cards!"

His classmates baulked at the outrageous offer.  
  
A deep throaty laugh. "Nah."

"And he refused him?!"

"That's even more unbelievable!"  
  
They baulked even more at Muto-ojiisan's outrageous refusal.

Kaiba grit his teeth irritably. "Why not?"

The old man smiled, serene and patient. "You seem to want this card a lot, Kaiba-kun." Yusei noticed the less personal use of Kaiba's last name versus the first names he addresses Muto's friends with. "But the reason this card isn't for sale is because it was a gift from a very dear friend of mine in America. In short, this card is as valuable to me as my dearest old friend. It's a treasure worth more than any card in the world because of my sentiment for it. Valuing every last card is the true strength of this game."

Judai, Muto-ojiisan, and Muto the teenager. Yusei believed he had the privilege of meeting the three most wonderful people in Domino City and he wouldn't hear a word otherwise. Muto was unbelievably giving and kind, Muto-ojiisan was unbelievably patient and wise underneath his mischief, and Judai was an unbelievable mixture of the both. His lips curled into a conservative smile in approval of Muto-ojiisan's words.  
  
Kaiba, for his part, sucked in a breath through his teeth, producing a sharp, hissing sound reminiscent of a snake. "Fine. I get it." He stuffed a fist into his pocket and trudged out the door. The teen struck Yusei as the type to get irritable when he didn't get his way.

"That was great!" Jonouchi cackled.

Muto beamed admiringly of his grandfather. "Jii-chan doesn't need rare cards to have fun! Or win!"

The elder Muto chuckled.

They stayed at the shop for another two hours, during which Yusei and Muto helped Jonouchi pick out cards and took turns drilling both him and Mazaki on how the game worked. While she didn't seem too interested in playing the game, she liked hearing about the rules and looking at the illustrations.

 

* * *

 

The next day saw the three of them sitting around a table and playing match after match. Yusei did his best to hold back and even refrained from synchro summoning, but he retained an uncontested winning streak against the both of them, which was strange because he thought for sure Muto would be a hard opponent. That being said, Muto himself had an unrelenting winning streak against Jonouchi.  
  
"Crap! I lost _again!_ " Yusei had to give the blonde credit for his sheer tenacity, a losing streak to two friends would usually deter anyone from a game, but Jonouchi persistently challenged them for match after match. He was getting the hang of the rules and the jargon with every duel, though; Yusei could visibly see his progress from every match played and every match watched. Muto got better and better against him at an even more impressive rate.

Their games were attracting attention from their classmates, who crowded behind Muto and Jonouchi and made a wide berth from his side. The result was an amusing cluster of kids nudging and elbowing each other instead of just moving aside because it meant getting closer to him. It used to bother him, but now he was jaded enough to see the humor in it. Their free period would be ending soon though.

His thoughts were interrupted when he felt a familiar chill.

"Yugi-kun." A polite and smooth and familiar voice cut in.

"Oh, Kaiba-kun!" Muto turned away from his blonde friend, who was busy being heckled by their other classmates for losing so much, and smiled in greeting to the approaching teen. Kaiba looked ill-fit in their school uniform; he was the kind of personality that only looked suited in something flashy and expensive.

His face stretched uncomfortably again, in that familiar and uncanny pantomime of a genuine smile. "Your game was fun to watch." It was fake. It was so obviously fake.

And Muto lapped it up with a sweet and delighted smile.

"But... if you don't mind me asking, could I please see that dragon card again? Do you have it?"

Yusei wasn't one to boss his friends around, but just as he was about to warn his friend to be careful another voice cut into the general din of their classroom. "Fudo-kun, could you please come to the front?" Their teacher called from across the room and with the worst timing possible.

"Listen, Muto-san-"  
  
"The teacher called you, _Yusei-kun_." Kaiba smiled with slitted eyes and too much teeth and all the comfort and warmth of an arctic storm. The friendly address felt like pinpricks of frost crawling on his back, a weapon of discomfort and insult with it's proximity.

 "Go ahead Fudo-kun." The small gamer smiled at Yusei too, but it was nothing like Kaiba's cold and robotic mockery of human expression.

His hands were tied; he didn't want to make a scene. "Be careful." He said and got up like he was leaving his friend to a proverbial den of lions. He didn't trust the cold-eyed teen's intentions.  
  
The rest of the class had gone mostly quiet, save for the hushed whispering. Their teacher held the door into the hallway for some privacy. There was a slight pause as she seemed to be deciding what to say with a deliberating look. "Fudo-kun," She started, brown- no, honey eyes boring into him with a candidness he never recalled her possessing. "It's come to my concern that you might be struggling in my class."

Yusei was glad she jumped straight to the point. "I am." He said, not bothering to beat around the bush.

She seemed surprised at this. "Well, this is only the first week of class so I won't dally on the subject more than to warn you that if you're struggling this early in, than I advise getting a tutor or some help as soon as possible. Allow yourself to fall behind and it'll be a nightmare to catch back up, especially the way you are now, and the longer you wait the harder it'll get."

"Yes, thank you." He said politely, taking her advice seriously. Strangely, he remembered her being much more nervous during his first day, but maybe she was just getting used to him. He hoped his classmates would follow. When she continued to look at him expectantly, he felt himself foraging around for something he might have forgotten.

The silence stretched to uncomfortable lengths and beyond. "...Do you even know my name?" The teacher asked like she couldn't believe it was even a possibility.  
  
He had the grace to look abashed. "No." And then a beat later, "I apologize." The name of his teacher might have been mentioned by that first receptionist or even on his schedule paper, but he was pretty distracted that first day with the constant barrage of foreign sights. Plus, she was so different that day that she hardly left an impression on his memory.

An exasperated sigh. "It's _Tenjoin._ Please remember this time." It was kind of impressive how frank and direct Tenjoin-sensei was, considering how tiny she was. She even had to crane her neck a little to look him in the eye, which she didn't hesitate to do anymore. Yusei liked forthright people.

"I will." He said and meant it.

She considered him for a moment and seemed to accept his words as honesty. "Good. I'm expecting much from you. You can go back now." That was a first, most of the other teachers contented themselves to keep a broad berth and unconcern themselves with him.

His fingertips had just brushed the handle of the classroom door when she spoke up again. "Fudo-kun." He turned back to her face, which looked oddly hesitant just when he was starting to grow used to her new blunt personality. "...Be careful around Kaiba-kun." And she was gone in a swish of gray and navy fabric, black heels clicking down the hall.

He had already had his suspicions about Kaiba, and Tenjoin-sensei's warning only confirmed their validity. Once inside the classroom, which immediately hushed at his entry, he sat back down with his friends.  
  
"Hey man." Jonouchi greeted carelessly and Yusei nodded in response. Kaiba was gone, back in his seat at the back of the class and looking worryingly pleased with himself underneath his air of regal stoicism. More importantly, Muto's face had a discomfited look.

"Is something the matter, Muto-san?"

"O-oh, no! I'm sorry Fudo-kun! I was just spacing out!" The smaller teen laughed nervously, much to his suspicion.

"Eh? Something's wrong?" The blonde at their table cut in.

"No, no! Nothing's wrong!"

"Are you sure?" Yusei prodded.

"Yes, Fudo-kun." Muto continued to insist that he was fine, despite their attempts to coax anything out of him. He was surprisingly stubborn at times and Yusei knew from past experience that once Muto clammed up you couldn't get a peep out of him. Class sped forward through the day and, to his deepening concern, Muto would not be walking home with him today. The gamer claimed he wanted stay with a teacher to talk about something. Yusei had offered to wait for him, but Jonouchi, casual an unsuspecting, accepted the story and pushed the two along.

And thus a restless Yusei trying and failing to relax and concentrate on his work. Judai and their cat watched him bemusedly from the floor, their lack of furniture leaving them without a proper table or couch. Cat and human sat on the floor at their coffee table, using spare cushions from the storage closet as padding for the hard floor. "Yusei, you've been acting weird since you got home. What's eating at you?" His roommate had put up with it for quite a while before he said anything about it, talking over the short stretch between the living room and the kitchen.

Yusei had grown as accustomed to being read so easily as he could by now, but this would be difficult to explain. "Nothing much. Just a bad feeling." Judai had cooked tonight, something simple and clumsily made, and Yusei was grateful for the menial chore of the clean-up to distract himself with.

"A gut feeling?"

"I guess." He preferred to think about things logically, but he generally trusted his instincts when they were screaming this loudly at him. "There's not much I can do now though."

Yusei could hear the click and fizzle of the brunette popping open a can of beer; he generally had one a night. "Well, then that's that right?" He said cheerfully, taking a deep swig as the younger male made a questioning noise.

"Well, like you said. There's nothing you can do, so there's no point in worrying now." He explained. "It'd be more productive to think about what you can do tomorrow if something _did_ happen."

The fact that he didn't bother telling Yusei  _not_ to worry at all was telling how well Judai knew him. It was helpful to have his thoughts cleared. "Thank you, Judai-san."

"Sure, no proble-"  
  
_Knock knock._

Someone was at the door? Yusei cast a look at the kitchen wall clock, who's hands read eight o'clock. It was kind of late for a visit from just about anyone he knew. Maybe it was a friend of Judai's?  
  
"Crap!" His roommate suddenly hissed. "Dude, we have to hide Pharaoh!"  
  
"What?"

"The cat! Landlady! At the door!"

" _What?_ "  
  
There was a mad scrabble and whirlwind of movement as Judai ushered their illegal tenant into his room and Yusei hid away their meager cat-related objects. All the while the doorbell rang at timely intervals and in the back of his mind he wondered what kind of name was "Pharaoh"

"Alright, we're good, I think." Judai said with a big sigh and flopped back down at their makeshift table. The mechanic was closer to the door so it was unspoken that he be the one to open it.

Hoping that Pharaoh would stay quiet, he gripped the handle of their front door and opened it to let their landlady in. He had never met her because Judai handled all of the arrangements, something Yusei had preferred because she might not have rented to them if she saw his trackers. At this point their hefty down payment of three months worth of rent would have proved them to be reliable tenants, so hopefully she wouldn't see fit to do so now. High heels clicked and gray and navy fabric swished through the door.

"Fudo-kun?" It was his teacher, except now her blonde hair released from it's tight bun and left to cascade down her back. She looked as surprised to see him as he felt to see her.

"...Tenjoin-sensei?" Belatedly, he remembered to shut the door behind her.

"Are _you_ Judai's roommate?" First name basis? What? He nodded bemusedly and looked back-and-forth between Judai and the blonde woman, hoping for some kind of explanation.

The brunette only cocked his head. "Eh? You know Yusei, Asuka?"

She spared the older male a curt nod. "I guess I should introduce myself a little more." She smiled at Yusei, a friendly but crisp gesture. "I'm Tenjoin Asuka. Judai and I have been friends since we were very small. We currently go to the same school, but I'm substituting your homeroom teacher as a part-time job and lease this apartment." Wasn't that essentially two jobs on top of school?  
  
"I know, right?" Judai snickered, who could somehow read Yusei's emotions despite the fact that he was _sure_ he didn't move his face this time. "Asuka's a total badass."

"Enough of that." She said with a glitter in her eye and obviously suppressing a larger smile. "I only stopped by to check on you. To see how you moved in and if you were getting along with your roommate." Honey eyes glanced dryly at their sparse surroundings. "But I see I should have waited another week. Where are your furniture?" She asked with a tone that reminded him eerily of the matron that ran Yusei's orphanage. Asuka was likely asking a hypothetical question because she already knew the answer and didn't like it.

Judai laughed nervously. "Ah-ha. Well..."

"Yes?"  
  
"Er- I might have forgotten to- well. I forgot to ask Yusei... if he had furniture too?" Judai had an exaggerated way of clumsily dancing around the topic if he knew it was going to get him into trouble. He was probably a horrible liar.

She just sighed tiredly. "I knew it. I _knew_ you would forget to ask him first. I should have checked on that first before I let you handle your furniture-"

Judai cut in before she could develop into an exasperated tirade. "Asuka, Asuka, _relax_. We got this under control. Besides, I had a bunch of old crap I didn't need anyways."

Another sigh. It was becoming a common expression from his teacher. "Well, I know a good place. I'll send you the details later.  _Don't_ dally around fixing this place up. If you don't do it now you'll never get it done. And a good kid like Yusei deserves a nice place while he's in school." It would seem his roommate had saved himself from a reaming, but Yusei had mixed feelings about being treated like a kid. On one hand, it was insulting after everything he'd been through, but on the other it was very kind of Tenjoin-sensei to say that. Yusei was pretty sure that was the first remotely nice thing he had heard any of his teachers say.

"I'm fine with it." He said, surprising the two. Like any old pair of friends that got to talking, they got wrapped up in their own little world and probably didn't notice he had hardly said a word since she walked in.  
  
"Be that as it may, Judai has a responsibility to you." What were they, married? "Look you two, I'm busy right now-"  
  
"You're _always_ busy-"

"-and I have to get going. Keep an eye on your inbox, Judai, and remember what I said earlier!" She ignored Judai's picking like it was her true profession and fussed at him to get things done like she was his mother.

"I hear you. Take care!" He called.  
  
She was already out the door and had poked her head back inside. " _Remember it_!"

She closed the door to Judai's laughter. There was a stretch of silence.

"Judai-san?"

"Yeah?"  
  
"She wouldn't really kick us out, would she? Over Pharaoh?" Yusei phrased that more like a statement because he already knew the answer.  
  
"Ha! Definitely not. I just don't wanna get chewed out." It would seem Judai was a little less reckless than he thought. Tenjoin-sensei was a good friend to him.

* * *

 

The next day proved his worries mostly unfounded, as Muto arrived to class just fine and in one piece. That being said, there was an oddly sad look about him and Kaiba was absent from class. "Are you alright?" He asked his downtrodden friend.

"Yeah, I think so." He said, staring at the grooves into his desk. "Kaiba-kun and I got into a fight." He admitted in a rare display of openness.

"Is that so? Just words?" Yusei probably couldn't _do_ much against someone so rich and powerful, but the least he could do is take him down a peg or two by beating him at his own game. He was the kind of prideful person who couldn't stand losing.

Muto sighed, contrasting Tenjoin-sensei's tired one by sounding sad. "Yeah, just words. It's sad to fight with friends though." There was a little shift to his eyes, to the side, and Yusei immediately suspected there might have been more than words. He couldn't see any injuries on his friend and he would be in a much bigger panic if Kaiba did anything else, so Yusei didn't press the matter any further.

"It is." He agreed, despite the fact that Kaiba was anything but a friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when I said I wanted to be a chapter ahead just in case I couldn't write? Just for future reference, my personal time limit is four weeks, or one month, to complete the second-to-next chapter before I go ahead and post the upcoming chapter regardless of whether or not the second-to-next chapter is completed. Basically, if 3 is done but it's taking me a month to get 4 done I'll go ahead and post 3 regardless if 4 is done.
> 
> But since chapter 3 is up, you guys should know that means chapter 4 is done ;D
> 
> Sorry for the short length of this chapter, but it's a necessary bridge between chapters 2 and 4.


	4. The King's Seat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Goddammit whai do this pair have to be such cuties?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There really isn't much going on in this chapter besides FLUFFY DORKS.

It was the last day of his first week of school and Yusei certainly hadn’t caught up to the material in the slightest, going by the fact that he was so far behind in some of his classes he couldn’t even understand what the teachers were saying anymore. He was still keeping pace with his math class and kept up with history lessons thanks to the auditory lectures, but his lack of reading comprehension made it impossible to do word problems and do any assigned reading. His language and writing classes were abysmal.

Despite his struggling, there was some good news. Both he and Judai had acquired more money through their stipends. Yusei received a rather hefty sum, going by the way Judai's eyes bugged out at the sight of his check- mere pocket change coming from Godwin. Though he loathed receiving charity from Godwin, he couldn’t balance the conditions of their deal on top of a job. He barely comprehended how Tenjoin-sensei balanced two jobs on top of school and respected her for her hard work. According to Judai, he and other lower-class scholarship students from outside the region were given stipends to help them live if they had especially good marks. Unfortunately, the money was only enough to rent a half-decent place at the hefty cost of being unable to afford to anything else, like _eating_. Yusei didn’t know how he kept forgetting his roommate was some sort of incredible science genius.

With their new money, Judai had declared he and Yusei were going shopping for new furniture over the latter’s protests that he’d be fine with anything. They were going to go as soon as Yusei got home, but from Mazaki’s announcement it looked like he might be held over.

“Now then! Let’s decide our class’ attraction for this year’s festival!” She declared. “Raise your hand if you have an idea.”

Soon ideas were being tossed and pitched around, with Mazaki writing promising ideas on the chalkboard. Yusei knew, academically, that festivals were for celebrations but besides slightly nicer New Years rations the concept meant nothing to a Satellite. He didn’t know what you did at a festival or what it was supposed to look like, so he stayed quiet.

“…therefore, “sex appeal” will decide the winner! I call my idea the “Real High-school Girl Cabaret”-!“

What.

“…all the customers get to pick a girl and a costume-!“

“Get out Jonouchi!”

“Go die!”

The poor fool had the nerve to look surprised that their female classmates were throwing their pencils and books at his lecherous head.

“Do you have ideas, Fudo-kun?” Muto said through his giggles.

“No. You?”

“Well… m-maybe one.” The gamer demurred, obviously still sitting on it out of anxiety issues.

“You should suggest it. It can’t be worse than Jonouchi-san’s.” He said, and the rare flash of his hidden and dry humor seemed to be the right encouragement for Muto, who snickered and glanced at his pouting friend.

“U-Um… Anzu?” He raised his hand when Mazaki made a last call for more ideas.

“Oh, got something Yugi?”

“Eh… y-yeah, I do,” He said, reddening and focusing on his friend to avoid the curious eyes of his classmates. “A homemade carnival game! Like… like in amusement parks!” He said, eyes shining with the idea.

The words meant nothing to him, but the rapidly growing murmurs of his classmates definitely indicated it meant something for them. The whispers as they mulled the idea over eventually grew into excited cheers as Muto’s suggestion slowly won them over.

“Good…”

“Yeah…”

“A game might be good…”

“Yeah, it’d be fun!”

“Awright! A carnival game it is!” Jonouchi leapt from his chair, endearingly eager to declare his friend’s idea as the winner.

“Okay, then we’ll all build a carnival game!” Mazaki announced with a slight note of pride in her friend. “Next, what game should we build?

Another round of ideas chorused through the class for basketball games, target practice, and some kind of bottle game and Yusei could see a dreamy look on Muto’s face out of the corner of his eye. He was happy for him too.

They decided on some kind of barrel game called “Human Bluebeard in Danger” that Yusei didn’t understand how to play, but it involved a person squishing inside, sticking swords into the sides, and a springboard to launch that person out. It was a play on some kind of toy that already existed, but it sounded kind of sadistic… The kids of Satellite played hide-and-seek and tag and with toys their parents made for them from scraps and elbow grease. Sometimes they played Duel Monsters, but that could take months of scrounging around for enough undamaged cards to make a functional deck.

Yusei was more than happy to utilize his skills to contribute to Muto’s game- at the very least it saved him from working on the outside with the kids. While Jonouchi prepared the wooden barrel and Muto crafted the mask out of newspaper, glue, and paint, Yusei had charged himself with the delicate mechanics like the springboard, buttons, and levers required to launch their pirate.

“Hey you two, almost done here!”

“Wow, that’s great!” Muto enthused, and Yusei managed to tear himself away from his work long enough to confirm the statement. The wood was cut evenly and sandpapered to a smooth, glossy finish. Jonouchi had done a masterful job. “Jounouchi, you’re really good with your hands!”

“Everyone’s gotta have some talent or other.” Mazaki teased.

Jounouchi chuckled proudly. “I’ve been putting together all kinds of model kits in my garage since I was a kid! Look!” He hopped inside to demonstrate the perfect size of the barrel for the average high school teenager.

Yusei glanced back his work and figured he’d have to try and fit it in to see how it worked. “You might have to get out.” He started. “I need to fit these inside and test them.” They worked fine when he tested the sensitivity on the table, but how would they work set up in the barrel?

Muto was instantly at his side, peering around to his simple setup. “Wow! It looks great Fudo-kun!”

“It _is_. I had no idea you were that good at mechanical things!” Mazaki exclaimed, sounding surprised. She had looked understandably apprehensive when he suggested she could save money by buying cheaper parts and letting him assemble something more efficient than buying something expensive and factory-assembled that couldn’t do the job as well as something homemade. That was the whole point of this project anyways, wasn’t it? But she took a chance on him and by the look on her face she didn’t regret it.

Jonouchi, having left his barrel, took a look on the other side of his shoulder. He whistled. “No way I could put together something like that. Not without instructions, anyway.”

“It’s not anything great…” He instantly backtracked in the face of shining praise and compliments. The collective looks of amusement meant they were definitely catching on to his habit of shying away from praise. But a simple toy like this was literally child’s play in Satellite. Kid’s tinkered with the junk and spare parts Domino citizens cast aside all the time. No one had quite reached building a motorcycle from a scrap heap, but Yusei had always insisted that they could if they set their minds to it.

He ignored his friends’ snickering and set about inserting his devices with a pointed concentration.

Jonouchi snickered devilishly. “I wonder who’ll be playing Bluebeard…. I’m gonna laugh my ass off!”

“Why, you of course! As you demonstrated, you’re the perfect size!” Anzu said with a sickeningly innocent voice.

“What?!”

“I even made the mask to fit your size, since Fudo-kun was behind me and you were in clear view for a model!”

“D-Don’t joke arou-!”

" _Anyways,_ " Muto raised his voice over the din with a giggle. "We're going to visit a museum after this, Fudo-kun. Want to come?"

Before Yusei could think of a response, a new, timid voice cut into their workspace. “Excuse me?” He didn't recognize the girl that walked in and instantly halfway tuned out the conversation, since she probably wasn't here for him. He was almost done fixing up the springboard anyways.

“What is it?” Mazaki asked.

There! He leaned over the side and pressed a sword into the button he built to connect to the spring mechanic, satisfied with the sight of the springboard launching taught and perky.

“W-well… there’s a guy here to see F-Fudo-san.”

Huh? He looked up from his work at the sound of his name to the timid girl that refused to meet his eyes. “Did he say who he was?” He asked cautiously. It was likely Godwin, who had thinly-veiled a threat to follow him more closely if he stepped out of line the last time they had spoken. That was the day he demanded to live in an apartment of his own choosing.

“N-no. He was-” She stuttered, face reddening. Was he still that scary?

He supposed he would have to get up and see for himself. Yusei passed the girl, who cringed slightly at their proximity. To his amusement, he could see Mazaki and Jonouchi give her the stink eye from the corner of his eye as the trio followed him out. While the cringing did annoy him a little on the first day, he had let it go by this point, where the constant whispering had died down for fresher, juicier gossip. He ignored his classmates, and they in turn ignored him when he was a safe distance away, tucked neatly from their minds. He was fine with it that way.

“You don’t have to come, you know.” He offered the trio, privately having a mixed feeling of apprehension and appreciation.

“Of course we do!” Jonouchi insisted as the others nodded their agreement. “You didn’t look exactly thrilled, Yusei. Is some guy bothering you?” He said, tone dropping to convey his displeasure.

Yusei couldn’t deny that a part of him was far from ecstatic at the idea of being alone with Rex Godwin again, nor could he deny that their open concern touched him a little. But on the other hand he didn’t want to expose them to Godwin’s scrutiny. Well, further than what they were probably already under.

His protective instincts won over.

“Actually… what I mean is, please wait here.” He said, unintentionally using the firm tone normally reserved for Rally. “It’s probably my parole officer.” That wasn't entirely correct, but it was the simplest term to describe what Godwin was to him, besides arch-enemy.

They looked anything but reassured. “Fudo-kun, you’re not in trouble, are you?” Muto asked worriedly.

“H-he didn’t look like an officer…” The girl murmured, red-faced.

His lips thinned. “He wouldn’t.” Pressed suit, trim nails, shiny shoes- in all his three times of seeing the man, Godwin never looked anything less than perfectly immaculate. “I’d appreciate if you all would give us privacy.”

Mazaki huffed and looked ready to argue and Muto was visibly preparing to insist, but Jonouchi’s firm hands on their shoulders gave them pause. “Just let him go. Yusei’s probably got stuff he wants to keep private.” The blonde’s eyes radiated a sense of understanding, almost camaraderie. Yusei could guess from the kid’s rough and tumble attitude that he might have a rougher life than most people would imagine.

It was enough to give the other two pause, and Yusei nodded his thanks. He pushed aside the strips of cloth acting as their door and found his classmates to be collectively staring in the same direction. He followed their gaze to-

…to his roommate surrounded by a flock of students and looking supremely confused. “Judai-san?” He asked, bewildered, ignoring the fascinated onlookers and rekindled gossiping as he privately tried to remember if he had ever lucidly dreamed.

The brunette’s head spun in his direction so fast he was worried the college student would snap his own neck. “Yusei this is amazing!”  Judai cheered through the quickly clearing throng of females.

“Yeah…” He said slowly, still trying to catch up to the fact that his roommate was here in his school and not Godwin. “What are you doing here, Judai-san?”

Brown eyes lit up. “Oh, that’s right! I’m here because we agreed to meet up after you got out of school, but it was an hour late and I was worried something happened. It’s not like you to be late.”

“You didn’t try calling my cell phone?” He asked with a stab of guilt. He should have called Judai, but he was so swept up in the novelty of a festival that he forgot. It was unbelievably irresponsible and careless for him.

“I did, but it went directly to voice-mail so I couldn’t get a hold of you.”

That's right, he always turns it off during school and tucks it away to avoid trouble. “I’m sorry to have troubled you.” He glanced behind to their work. He had already scheduled something important with Judai, but this project was an academic commitment.

Judai seemed to have sensed his indecision. “Don’t worry about it! We can always reschedule. I only insisted on today because Asuka's recommendation was great as usual; they’re having a good sale.”

His roommate was kindly trying to write it off, but the admission only made it worse. They had a shared budget and any kind of sale at all would be ideal. Yusei frowned.

“Er-“ A classmate started, and she squeaked when the pair looked at her. “I-I’m sure Mazaki-san won’t mind. Try talking with her…?” She suggested, red-faced and eyes locked onto Juda-

Wait.

A cursory glance to his surroundings revealed an oddly unbalanced ratio of female to male onlookers. A large female chunk of not just his class, but the other nearby ones as well, were gazing at Judai with admiring eyes and red cheeks. Yusei knew on an academic level that his roommate was aesthetically attractive; the brunette had the warm and natural magnetism of a child behind the visage of a handsome, boyish face. To have this confirmed by the same classmates that avoided him like a plague, and for his roommate to not even seem to notice his popularity, was actually a little funny. “It wouldn’t be right to leave…” He said reluctantly. But if they were buying furniture, they really needed to shop during some kind of sale.

“I-I’ll go get Mazaki-san!” The girl said, probably eager to please and help Judai.

“You don’t have to-“ The girl had already disappeared into the tent.

“Nice classmates you got.” His roommate hummed, completely clueless. Yusei decided that if he couldn’t figure it out himself, then there probably wouldn’t be much point explaining that much of the nearby female student body was drooling over him.

It was barely a moment before his friends clambered out of the tent. “So, what’s going on here?” She asked pleasantly and Yusei instantly recognized the tone as dangerously sweet. Mazaki still thought Judai was her parole officer and was acting accordingly hostile to him. Behind her, while Jonouchi’s harsh glare looked openly virulent, Muto’s expression looked… strange. His brows were pinched like he was viewing an abstract painting and wasn’t sure what he was seeing. After the mechanic built up the image of an uncompromising and authoritarian officer, the easygoing and cheerful Judai was bound to be off-putting.

Too bad Judai wasn’t one to pick up on their hostility. A sledgehammer to the face might be a slightly better option. Yusei is almost certain the brunette picks up on the atmosphere just fine and then purposely choses to ignore it. “Well, Yusei and I had scheduled to go shopping for new furniture, but he was an hour late so I came to see if he was all right.”

“O-oh.” They looked downright uncomprehending at this point. “And you are… Yusei’s parole officer…?” Mazaki asked and Yusei could just see his roommate laughing-

Judai’s loud and full laughter filled Yusei’s ears, confirming his prediction. “O-Oh wow! Is that what he’s been telling you?”

“I thought you were someone else.” He said hurriedly before the other could have too much fun with this.

“That’s obvious!”

“Er-“ Mazaki started.

Judai was catching his breath, so it was up to the mechanic to introduce him. “This is my roommate, Yuki Judai-san.”

“Roommate?” Jonouchi asked, surprised.

“That’s me!” Judai grinned. “There was a little accident with the furniture when I moved in. Yusei and I were going to go shopping for more today since there's a store with a good sale. Dirt poor college student an’ all.”

“Oh, you’re a college student?” Misaki asked, surprised. He didn’t blame her; Judai looks a bit younger than his twenty years.

The brunette made a sound of confirmation. “Mm-hm! I go to NDU.”

A bomb going off wouldn’t have surprised Yusei more than the collective shout of “ _NDU?!_ ” Just about everybody in the general vicinity screamed and frantic whispering spread like a wildfire. His roommate looked vaguely uncomfortable, but Yusei imagined he himself just looked confused.

“Mazaki-san?” He asked for clarification. “Why is everyone shouting?”

She looked surprised at the question. “You mean you don’t know? Neo Domino University is the top school in the country and one of the top five schools in the entire world. You’d have to be filthy rich or smart enough for a scholarship to get in, and it's notoriously hard.”

It seemed Judai just existed to impress. The knowledge that he was living with one of the smartest men in the country was humbling. “Congratulations.” He told his roommate, noting his discomfort with amusement. “But why do they call it “Neo Domino University”?”

“The first Domino University got blown up.” Mazaki answered.

“No way! It was an earthquake, remember?” Jonouchi argued. “The whole thing was demolished in that super-earthquake a few years ago.”

Yusei furrowed his brow- he didn’t remember any sort of earthquake. He vaguely remembered some sort of disaster occasionally mentioned and discussed when he was younger, though that was such a long time ago that he had forgotten what the disaster was by now. He tried to reach into the recesses of his mind for knowledge long forgotten, but it was like trying to grasp a spring breeze.

“Wasn’t it both?” Judai supplied with a faraway look on his face. “The school was destroyed by an explosion triggered by a powerful earthquake. The magnitude was high enough to damage the heating system and the electrical equipment in the mechanical engineering and biology classes. Multiple fires broke out from the electrical damages and caused an explosion when unfiltered gasses from the damaged heating system were released and made contact. The school was leveled to the ground.”

“Actually, I think that sounds right.” Mazaki laughed. “How did I manage to forget that?”

“Oh yeah!” said Jonouchi. “Guess the NDU student would know all of that.”

“Wh-what are you studying there, Yuki-san?” A small voice inquired. It was Muto, he had been rather quiet.

Judai turned to Muto, and it was now that Yusei noticed it was the first time the brunette looked directly at his short classmate. “Just ‘Judai’ is fine.” He smiled, though it wasn’t as goofy and energetic as the ones Yusei was used to receiving. Muto flushed, a product of his shyness, but looked pleased. “Besides the general required courses, I’m taking a lot of science classes. You know, stuff like theoretical physics, quantum mechanics, and astronomy.”

Yusei, who had already had his turn to be surprised, got to enjoy the sight of his classmates’ jaws dropping. The small crowd and eavesdroppers exploded into conversation.

“Did you hear that?”

“He said he’s “dirt poor”; I wonder if he got in through scholarship?”

“Wow, nice, handsome, _and_ smart!”

You’d have to be deaf not to make out the things they were saying, but Judai acted as if he couldn’t hear a word. He might have not been paying attention, or maybe he just didn’t care, because Judai didn’t even so much as twitch.

“W-wow…” Mazaki said, looking a little breathless. “So you came here to take Fudo-kun shopping?” She prompted, taking the conversation back to it’s original purpose.

If Judai seemed a little relieved, Yusei figured it was because he was worried about getting their furniture. That, or, in an amusingly ironic way, he was just as shy about praise as Yusei was. “Yeah! Like I said earlier, I was hoping to take Yusei with me to a sale. It’s his apartment too, so he deserves some input.”

“Well, I don’t see why not.” What? But wasn’t this a project? He couldn’t really leave all the work to his classmates to take off shopping. “Fudo-kun, it’d be fine. The most important bulk of the work, the actual game, is done thanks to you and the other two.” She assured, as if sensing his thoughts.

A well-manicured nail gestured to the front of their attraction, a basic but sleek structure of wood to make a counter. The actual game was inside their tent, but the flaps would be propped wide open to make the inside brighter once they finished constructing; a counter was required to act as some kind of front. The actual wooden construction was finished, and the classmates bothering to pretend to work in the face of their interesting newcomer were painting the stall with dry brushes that they forgot to dip back into the buckets of bright paint. “All that’s left is painting the stall and the clean-up. You’ve done your share, so why don’t you go with Judai? This sounds important anyways.”

“Are you certain?”

“Yeah, go ahead man.” Jonouchi said carelessly.

Muto smiled. “Fudo-kun, we can handle it from here. Thanks for your help!”  
  
He nodded gratefully, “Thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow.”  
  
“Nice to meet all of you!” Judai waved goodbye as the pair left.  
  
It was only when they had walked a block and Judai showed no indication of stopping that Yusei asked where his car was. “Oh, I don’t have a license.” His roommate said cheerfully.  
  
“So you walk everywhere?”  
  
“That’s right!”

Fair enough. They lived close by to the grocery markets and the schools anyways; driving would be a waste of fuel. Yusei only drove his bike the first day of school because he wanted to be absolutely sure he would make it on time. He got his route from a map, but on the chance he took a wrong turn, it would be better to make a wrong turn on a fast motorcycle instead of slow human legs.  

The store was very large and, in Yusei’s opinion, gleaming and pristine with white tile and glossy frosted windows. According to Judai, it was actually an average place with affordable prices for them. He found himself with a healthy amount of reservation at the sight of various products and furniture on display. Lustrous polished wood and tasteful decorations stretched from end to end of the store, and the automated escalator in the center indicated there was more upstairs. He was honestly surprised that the store manager hadn't come out to shoo him away from their store at the first sight of his trackers. Yusei chalked it up to Tenjoin-sensei's competence and foresight; she probably thought of that herself when picking out a store. The most he got was the feel of every clerk and every employee's eyes burning suspiciously into his back, already flagging him as a potential troublemaker. To be fair, he expected and has received much worse treatment on a regular basis, so he wasn't at all bothered by it.  
  
“Downstairs has the bigger stuff- beds, dressers, couches and the like. Upstairs is where all the nightstands and tables are.” Judai explained helpfully, probably having taken notice of his slightly bemused expression at the dizzying array of merchandise. Everything a Satellite owned was salvaged from the junk heaps and patched up with elbow grease, never mind these vast marketplaces of beautiful, glossy pieces. Yusei wasn’t even sure how he was supposed to shop and pick and choose when everything looked nice to him. The brunette continued when it looked like he wasn’t going to respond. “I figured we should buy what we need first. A table and some chairs to eat on would be a good start.” With that, he led the way upstairs.  
  
Upstairs was even worse because this time the merchandise was smaller, things like hand towels, dishwares, cooking tools, and various little decorations- it was all packed in a clutter and cluster of bright and shining odds and ends. Shelves among shelves of various trinkets and an abundance of options that didn’t seem to end. Judai navigated what Yusei perceived as organized chaos with striking ease and he followed, making a point not to distract himself with the assortments of baubles.

“Well, here are the tables.” Judai said, more to himself, as his brown eyes roving over the various displays. “Is there any particular one that you like?”  
  
He didn’t even know how to answer. All of them would serve their intended purpose far better than the rickety and unbalanced slabs of steel balanced on chipped cinderblock that he was used to serving as a meal table. As far as “style” went, he honestly had no clue about that sort of thing.“Judai-san, I don’t know- I’m fine with anything.” He said, trying and failing to restrain the slight note of distress.

The brunette hummed and gave the mechanic a considering look. “You probably would be. I guess the better question is, ‘Is there any particular one that you don’t like?’, or maybe, ‘Is there any particular one that you think wouldn’t be good to buy?’”  
  
“Well, nothing too expensive.” He suggested, more as a tentative question. He wasn’t sure what Judai wanted from him.  
  
His roommate grinned, and Yusei supposed that meant he was pleased to see him try. “Well, that’s a start! So, say something below fifty-thousand yen?”  
  
He choked. “At the very least.” That much, just for a table?  
  
“Don’t worry! My goal is something as close to twenty-thousand as possible.” The way Judai said that, it sounded like a noble or challenging goal. Twenty-thousand still seemed a little high.

He knew hardly anything about something so superfluous as furniture shopping, and Judai likely just knew something that he didn’t, but he figured it would be better to ask now than later. “Judai-san, you know that I only budgeted a portion of my stipend for this?” He wasn't sure how much Judai planned to spend for this, but just the table would cut out a sizable chunk from Yusei's portion.

“Eh? What are you talking about Yusei? I’m paying!”

“What- no.” He refused to let Judai pay for anything when he could contribute.

The older male chuckled good-naturedly. “Hey now, remember, it’s my fault we don’t even have a couch in the first place. I sold all my furniture without checking with you.”

“We’re sharing that apartment.” Yusei said firmly. “It was just as much my fault for not thinking of something like that.”

“Sheesh! So eager to shoulder the responsibility. You’re still a kid, you know!” His firm gaze didn’t waver in the face of Judai’s blasé response. No matter how young Yusei’s body was compared to Judai’s, the mechanic was in no way a child. The brunette was surprisingly perceptive, given his lackadaisical personality, so he must have sensed Yusei’s obstinacy on the matter. “Well, alright then! Let’s make a deal. You’ll buy your own furniture- things like your desk, your night-stand, and your chair, and I’ll handle the rest of the apartment.”

He frowned. “That still doesn’t sound very fair. We share the rest of the apartment. You’re still paying a lot for me.”

“Hm, fair point.” Judai hummed, bouncing little steps from side-to-side in a childish little squirm. Yusei noticed a long time ago that his roommate had a hard time standing still. “How about an extra condition? If I take care of the apartment, you have to take care of making breakfast and dinner whenever you can! I can barely cook at all and you seemed interested when you asked me about western breakfasts. So that’s the deal! Sound fair?”

Yusei didn’t know a thing about cooking besides the staples like the rice and miso he has for breakfast, but making the effort to learn and taking care of Judai seemed like fair payment to him. Really, the only thing he had to do for breakfast was make slightly bigger portions to share with Judai. But there was something else he could do too.

“If that’s the case, then I’ll handle most of the groceries.” The deal sounded even better when he added that. “You can buy snacks for yourself, but I’ll take care of keeping the kitchen stocked for the meals I make.”

The brunette grinned widely. “Sounds good to me! Now, with that out of the way, let’s get back to shopping!” He grabbed the mechanic’s arm with a wide and boyish grin, tugging him along with buoyant energy. Yusei couldn’t stop the quiet chuckle from escaping, despite the unhappy looks they were getting for being too rowdy. Judai had weirdly good ears though, and his answering carefree laughter made it known that he heard Yusei’s humor. He still wasn’t used to contact, but the brunette’s sunny nature helped it steadily feel more natural from him.

He browsed the store with Judai for a table, suggesting only the cheapest pieces out of a sense of courtesy. It seemed that the college student had at least some standard in mind, but he kept asking Yusei for his opinion. “I think I really like this one.” His roommate's voice cut into his thoughts.

“Which?”

“That one.” A slim finger pointed to a tall but compact rectangular table. The chairs were barstools and instead of the common four legs, the table had two thick slabs on either side with shelves built inside. The table was tall enough to tuck the barstools underneath when they weren’t in use. It was compact, but also managed to offer extra storage space.

‘ _Useful,_ ’ Yusei noted with approval. _‘Makes good use of space for extra storage and for small rooms._ ’ The price was a modest eighteen thousand yen and the wood looked very nice- it was rich and dark. “I like it.” He agreed.

“Sold!” The brunette cheered and accessed the terminal near the display. Each furniture display was set up near an accompanying computer terminal that you could place your order with. Judai would use it to pick out the preferred version of the display, enter their apartment information, and then scan his credit card. Apparently once the order was processed, the store will deliver it to your address for you.

They perused again for various other things Judai wanted. As time passed Yusei started to get a good sense of what “look” Judai liked and thus got the hang of recommending pieces that he would like. By the end of their trip, they had bought a beautiful white couch with small red pillows that Yusei was honestly a little intimidated to sit in, a wide shelf that would both store their television and act as storage for their books and such, and various odds and ends for the kitchen and living room. Yusei initially opted to by himself the cheapest desk, chair, and lamp available, but Judai managed to convince him to buy a couple things for just a little more when there was something with more useful features available.

He gazed at the red fabric on Judai’s back as his thoughts drifted. They were now purchasing and placing delivery orders for the smaller items, like the kitchenware, the lamp, and the other small things they’d need around the home. It was around the time the cashier had squatted down to find something or other that Yusei couldn’t stop himself from thinking that Judai had unexpectedly enjoyed shopping. He wouldn’t have pictured the bouncy brunette to enjoy something most people would think of as tedious.

‘Maybe he _would_ have and he brought the clueless Satellite so he wouldn’t be bored and alone.’ He entertained the thought with amusement. He himself didn’t find the shopping as any stretch of the word ‘boring’. While he couldn’t possibly be bored because of the sheer novelty of it all, these kinds of marketplaces should be pedestrian for his city-born roommate.

His thoughts were interrupted when Judai suddenly turned around with a wicked grin on his face. “Right now, you’re thinking about how surprising it is that I like shopping, aren’t you?”

How did he-?! “I- No, that’s…“ He was caught red-handed and there was no point blubbering over it. “Well, I was surprised, but I wasn’t thinking badly of you.”

The brunette snickered. “Heh! You’re face isn’t as stoic as you think, Yusei. It’s pretty open.”

Well, it was the first he heard that.

“Since you were wondering, I really liked shopping for the furniture today for a number of reasons. I enjoyed it because, even though I’ve had my own share of hardships, I’ve never suffered not having enough. I lived my life with good parents that provided for me and then later I went to a nice boarding school that also provided for me. I just feel like it’s official now, even if it’s something as small as buying my own furniture; I’m an adult.”

Yusei could understand pride in doing something for yourself, and he could even understand the feeling of hitting a milestone in your life. He smiled, infected with Judai’s warm glow.

“And,” The brunette continued, “I got to spend some time with you.” He finished, looking pleased with himself.

That, he didn’t know how to respond to. The way Judai declared something like that so unabashedly stunned him a little.

“I can tell, Yusei, that you’ve had a rough time of things. And on top of that you’re under a lot of pressure from school. I think it’ll be good to drag you out of your routine once in a while.” He winked with a grin that was all teeth, satisfaction, and youthful zeal.

This was different from pity, something that Yusei would have recoiled at. He didn’t need pity, not from someone who had just admitted to having an easy time of things, not when he had his pride and dignity as a Satellite to retain among city citizens that would always see him as something dirty and lesser. This was a gesture more familiar than shallow pity. “Thank you.” Yusei said, gratefully, once again feeling the warmth of welling respect and affection for his roommate’s kind and strangely gentle nature. Judai was rowdy and almost too energetic at times, but there was this strange gentleness to him in his almost innate understanding and sensitivity to the thoughts and emotions of others.

The mechanic had spent quite a bit of his recent life holding others at an arm’s length, far away from him. He will never understand the city’s residents or even care to in the same way Judai cared enough to reach out to him, someone from Satellite, on sight and first impression alone. It was the brunette’s ability to bridge the gap and reach out to others, even a marked Satellite, without a second’s hesitation, that Yusei respected and admired him for.

With their shopping done, the roommates began the long task of carrying everything their arms could hold back to their home. They had most of it delivered, but that cost a bit extra, so they made as much use of their bodies as they could.  
  
They were greeted by a snoozing Pharaoh when they got home, and the pair proceeded to place their purchases around the house. Dish rags and hand towels for the kitchen, basic white curtains for the windows, a throw rug for the bathroom, and other little things they would need around the house.  
  
“Looks livable to me.” Judai smiled with an air of satisfaction.  
  
The place looked fine to him before, but after buying his own things and dressing his own space how he liked, Yusei understood the glow his friend radiated. It was a glow of independence and freedom and making something wholly your own. He felt it first when his bike was complete, and now he felt it in the home he shared with his roommate. Things were unbelievably good, and it was thanks to the brunette who had bothered to reach out to some random branded thug.  
  
“Yeah.” He said, a matching grin slowly stretching long-dormant facial muscles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...but can we have a collective "aww" for dem ending scenes? I'm so sorry for my cheesy romance but I like provologne and colby jack okay? Lol Yusei's becoming DOMESTICATED and I can just picture the face he would make if I told him that. XD
> 
> ALSO GUESS WHO'S BIRTHDAY IT IS ON THIS MARCH 26TH? Yeeey I'm oooold, ovo. All the whippersnappers on the internets makes me feel old even at my now-19. At least I'm still younger than Judai, lol. Yeesh, I started writing this crap when I was 17, and I waited until I was practically 19 to get it going?


	5. Fine Dining! (Friends Not Included)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dinner with friends is nice, ain't it Yusei?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS IS THE CHAPTER I'VE BEEN LOOKING FORWARD TO.

Surprisingly, the second week of school passed peacefully. True, Yusei's struggle to keep pace in his classes was growing more evident by the day, but no one bothered him or his friends. He would know, considering he had been looking over his shoulder for the entire second week. Mostly on the vigilance for cold-eyed teens and shiny-shoed men; Yusei couldn't logically explain it, but he  _did_ have a pretty bad feeling that things were going to go south for some time now.

"Hey Yusei, Yugi and I are goin' to the arcade after classes. Wanna come?" Jonouchi invited. "Anzu's too busy with her class rep' stuff and Honda's gotta watch his nephew today."

He hesitated. "I should be studying..." Especially with how far behind he was. Plus, he didn't know what an arcade was. As far as his limited knowledge of the city went, it was a place young kids and teenagers went to play games, but details like what kind of games were played and how the places specifically functioned were lost.

"You've been studyin' since you _got here_ man." Jonouchi said with an annoyed huff. "We haven't got to hang out with you since we went to Gramps' shop last week. Just one day isn't gonna kill you."

Yusei felt a small stab of guilt and privately admitted that Jonouchi was right. Aside from the occasional exchange with Judai, who would pull him away from his work once in a while, he had been holing himself up with his studies for the past week. He probably owed his friends a day; besides, tomorrow was a Sunday, so he could get his work done then.

"It's alright if you can't come, Fudo-kun." Muto smiled understandingly, though it looked a little sad.

He sighed. "No, I guess I can spare some time today."  
  
"Awesome!" The blonde whooped and slapped Yusei on the shoulder.

"It'll be fun!" Muto assured with a beam.

Well, it would have, if an arcade would let him in.

The trio had stopped by no less than four different arcades, and all four owners shooed them out the second their eyes caught sight of his trackers. Jonouchi had been furious the first time, but with each rejection he was steadily growing more livid. Once Yusei began suggesting that they go inside without him or that he just go home and let the two have fun, Muto's eyes grew hard and determined.

"Listen you two," He said with a sigh after their fourth angry rejection. "You went out to play games, right? Go on without me."

"Hell no." Jonouchi said faster than a blink.

Muto obstinately frowned at a stoplight, already leading them to yet another arcade out of the likely hundreds he somehow knows about. "Fudo-kun, we came to play games together; that's why we invited you."

"Damn straight. It's not every day we manage to drag you away from your books."

Yusei was... flattered? He couldn't pinpoint exactly what he was feeling, just that he was touched they would go so far out of their way to have fun with him. It's not like his old family of friends at Satellite were any different; they, especially Rally, were always trying to drag him away from his work to spend time with him whenever he let himself get too swamped with his various projects. It was just that he'd forgotten what it was like to have friends. "Why don't we go to Muto's game shop then?" They could play all the games they wanted at his shop.

"Because I don't have a lot of two-player games." Muto sighed, looking abashed. What? How did he not?

"I saw a lot board games there? And cards. There were plenty of games made for groups there."

Jonouchi sent him a funny look. "No, no, dude. We're talking about _video games_."

"A... what?" And that sent him twin looks of alarm. He patiently rode out their shocked silence, the kind during which someone said something so unbelievable that one had to check whether or not they were joking.

"Y-Y'know- a _video game_." The blond sputtered, make vague and useless gestures with his hands as if they would reveal the answer.

They stared disbelievingly at Yusei's continuously uncomprehending look. "They're games that you play with computers and on the T.V." Muto explained, looking lost.

Oh, that explained it. Working televisions were difficult to salvage, what with their delicate microchips and plasma innards. Some older models even ran using a form of _dangerous radiation,_ making them too hazardous to reliably salvage. Most homes in Satellite had some form of weak electricity, but it was haphazardly rationed to a few hours a week per home, so few people even had the power to run televisions. Plus, some unfortunate houses didn't get power at all because of careless city officials and their lazy documentation. Even after those considerable obstacles, there was the fact that Satellite didn't have any television programming to speak of. You would have to have the skills and supplies to basically hack into the weak, rogue radio signals that would occasionally flare over Satellite. Ironically, hacking into rogue radio signals would be a bit easier than finding and powering the actual television. Because of the rarity and the hassle of putting together and operating working televisions, a vast majority of people never bothered with video and electronic entertainment beyond the scraps they provided for other projects. Yusei knew someone that would illegally siphon power from the various recycling plants and labor factories, but he was caught and dragged off. His family would never hear from him again.

"We don't have those." He said simply, before he ended up drowning himself in that familiar, festering anger. It was poisonous, and he fought to suppress it every day, to varying degrees, and to not lose himself in it. It was easiest when Judai was around.

Jonouchi sounded downright offended at that. "Well shit, now we _have_ to get you to an arcade."

Yusei sighed. "You don't _have_ to do anything."

"But we _want_ to." Muto answered with a tone of finality, looking more determined than before. He was weirdly assertive at odd times. Well, maybe not assertive, but more a quiet insistence. Especially if it was to help someone. They lapsed into silence and wandered further around the area between their school and NDU, which were not that far apart; the blocks between NDU and Domino Senior High were a cluster of trendy shops, restaurants, and arcades for the students of either school.

"If it isn't my favorite _trash_   _rat_." A hard, gruff voice cut into their conversation and he could hear Muto gasp.  
  
No.

"How's the city treating you? Much better than that garbage heap you belong to, right? Much better than trash like you deserves, right?"

Surely not.

"Who do you think you are?" Jonouchi hissed, ignoring the shining police badge, a blazing beacon of justice and protection and injustice and danger.

Yusei stared resolutely at the candy shop across the street, determined not to acknowledge his pestering. He had something going for him; an opportunity that was too good to be ruined by his temper. The mechanic was quiet, unsettlingly so at times, but he was surprisingly hot-blooded and life experiences have given him a dangerous temper when it was triggered. Yusei has done things he's not proud of under the influence of his rare but potent rage.

"You should watch your mouth when speaking to an officer of the law, kid. The name's-"

-The name's the second worst name in all of Domino City.

"Officer Ushio. And you had best pick better friends."

"F-Fudo-kun is a good friend...!" Muto protested, all gentle persistence and well-meant desperation and it was so obviously not in his nature to argue with others.

"I was talking to the blonde brat and  _only_ the blonde brat." Yusei could just hear Ushio's lips vicious curling in dark satisfaction with his bullying. Yusei was much too prideful to ever entertain the notion of being a victim himself, but it was easy to see that's what Ushio was trying to do. It worked on fragile people like Muto. Despite his determination to ignore the officer's prodding, something about that statement confused him. "But I see it would be a waste of breath."

"Eh?" Jonouchi snarled. "The hell are you sayin'?" Ushio began to turn an alarming shade of crimson.

"He-ey! Yusei!" A voice interrupted just as it looked like the officer was going to explode in a fit of mortal violence. It was simultaneously like hearing a trumpet of angels and a death sentence. Because, on one hand, being around Judai made everything easier. One the other, Yusei did  _not_ want his roommate within ten feet of Ushio or Yusei's old life. Judai was too good for that.

Running across the crosswalk, with another man in tow, was his small, fluffy, and spry roommate. "What's going on here?" He said, bright and friendly despite the obvious tension in the air. His friend didn't have quite the same boisterous gall to shamelessly barge into a tense conversation as Judai, but he looked calm and various as he assessed the situation with intelligent eyes.

Officer Ushio bared his teeth in his fury. "Just keeping an eye on the vermin. It looks like we have an infestation."

" _Oi-!_ "

"Oh really! Wow! Where?" Judai looked around with a look of innocent curiosity. "I had no idea the big city was so unkempt!"

The  _stones_ on this one to act so innocent even as he sassed police officers. Yusei knew by now that Judai liked to play at being more foolish than he really was.

So of course Ushio fell for the bait. Classic. "It is  _not_. The public workers for the law and the city's welfare do a superb job. I'm  _talking_ about the Satellite garbage and his little friends stinking up the streets!" Ushio sent a meaningful look to Judai, letting him know that the brunette was included on his list.

From the corner of his eye, Yusei could see Jonouchi begin to lunge for the officer, only barely held back in time from committing a grave mistake by Muto. A crowd of onlookers began to gather and Yusei decided enough was enough. "I get that you don't like me, and I don't particularly care, but what do you have against Muto-san?"

The behemoth of a man sent Yusei a heated look, like scalpels trying to pick him apart and leave him for dead. "I hate you and all of your little friends."

"But earlier you mentioned Muto-san specifically through omission." With that little comment that only  _Jonouchi_ needed to choose better friends, and not the small and fragile-looking Muto.

There was a long pause of silence, as vary degrees of rage and other smoldering emotions flared behind the officer's eyes. Finally, he addressed Jonouchi and Muto. "I wouldn't be wrong to say that you go to Domino High School, would I?"

Silence.

"I'm sure you noticed by now- I look quite similar to someone, don't I Muto?"

All eyes glanced at their smallest friend, who quivered slightly under the pressure. Yusei sighed. "Leave him alone, U-"

"Shut up." He hissed, and this violent and deranged mania, this furious promise of hatred and retribution was nothing like the arrogant and elitist officer Yusei was familiar with. He wasn't frightened, but this was looking more dangerous than he thought.

"...Ushio-kun. From school." Muto mumbled, but with a light of comprehension in his eye.

Ushio? From school-?

"Oh  _shit._ " Jonouchi recognized Ushio From School from the note of horror. "That damn thug-"  
  
The blonde yelped as a mammoth hand reached out, swift and sure and deadly as a hound, gripping his shirt." _One more_  fucking _word I won't be held responsible for what I'll do to you."_ Jonouchi's mouth clamped shut, his teeth coming together with an audible click, but his brown eyes still burned with a fiery determination as he forcibly wrenched himself from Ushio's vice grip.

Yusei didn't understand. "Who...?"

"Remember your second day of school, F-Fudo-kun? I think it was the second?" Muto started, hesitant and then downright anxious as Ushio's wild eyes bored into his small frame. "That day we saw a student..." He trailed off, biting his lip.

"Go on and say it, brat. _Please._ " The officer said softly, dangerously. "What did you see?"

"I-It was Ushio-kun... he was rolling around in the garbage." The tiny teenager squeezed his eyes shut, as if it would make this entire nightmarish situation go away, and Yuseis's memory sparked with images from last week. Now that it was mentioned, he could see an uncanny resemblance between the large teenaged Ushio and his giant of a father.  
  
" _That's right!"_ Ushio suddenly exploded, drawing shocked cries from everyone involved and the surrounding gawkers. " _My son! My son! Reduced to a gibbering lunatic!"_ _  
_

Yusei was quick to intervene, stepping in front of Muto. "But what does this have to do with Muto-san?" He persisted calmly, refusing to rise to Ushio's tantrum.

The large man huffed and puffed, barrel chest heaving with fury and hot breath. "D'you wanna know the first thing my son said? After we managed to coax his mind back into coherent thought?"

They waited in stunned silence. Yusei couldn't see Muto from behind him, but he could see Judai clearly and sent his roommate an apologetic look. While Ushio would have had a personal vendetta against Muto regardless, Judai deserved so much more than to be exposed to such violent behavior by association with Yusei. The brunette gave him a soft look, as if he was trying to tell him not to worry through his facial expression alone. Of course Judai would preoccupy himself more with making sure his roommate wasn't worried than concerning himself with his own bodily safety.

The officer laughed derisively, an angry bark. "The first thing my son said was to beg us to not let Muto Yugi find him. And then he started babbling about how 'it' was gonna get him."

A tense silence washed over the group like a wet blanket, with Muto staring resolutely at the ground.

"But that doesn't necessarily mean anything." Yusei tried to reason, his voice a careful tip-toe around an angry hound. "You said yourself that it was a struggle for Ushio-san to think clearly-"

Ushio's lip curled into something savage. "Ah- but you see, after my son dropped a name, I decided to do a little digging on our _friend_." Muto's face turned the color of milk. "And-"

"Ushio-san." Judai suddenly cut in with a small hand on Ushio's thick arm, the slender appendage absolutely dwarfed by the officer's larger frame. With a crack of a whip, Ushio's head snapped dangerously towards Judai, and Yusei found his body unconsciously moving forward. To do what, he didn't know. Maybe to protect his roommate, as even he didn't know what Ushio was capable of now.

A calm hand clasping his shoulder stopped him, and Yusei was surprised to see Judai's friend, who gazed at him solemnly. "Let it be. Just trust him."

"To do what?"

"You'll see."

In the meantime, Ushio had been snapping and snarling with a dog-like fury at Judai. "Get your hand off of me." He growled.

"Ushio-san, come with me." Judai said softly, voice a silken drape over a stone cold wall. It was gentle, but with an under-tone of commanding that brooked no argument, and despite himself and everything he's faced, Yusei felt a slight chill at the jarring change in his roommate. "I'd like to talk to you. Privately." Judai's back was turned to the rest of the group, and for just an irrational moment Yusei was inexplicably glad that he didn't see his roommates face.

But to his shock, Ushio's twisted snarl relaxed into something blank. He nodded and followed Judai to some respectable distance, where they could talk lowly and out of earshot.

Yusei still couldn't see Judai's face. None of them could, from this angle.  
  
"Judai-kun has a way with words." The stranger said with a thin smile.

"Who are you?" Yusei asked, suspicious in the way that he always is with new people. His eyes never left Judai and Officer Ushio.

He could see Judai's friend shoot him an amused look from the corner of his vision. "I'm a friend of Judai's from school. Misawa Daichi. Please treat me well." He politely held out a hand, and unlike Godwin or Kaiba, Yusei could see that there wasn't a mocking or condescending edge. Misawa was just well-mannered.

He reciprocated with a level of respect he reserved for the rare city citizens that treated him with respect. "Fudo Yusei. Nice to meet you." He allowed his eyes to leave his roommate for only the seconds it took to properly greet Misawa.

Before his other friends could introduce themselves, Officer Ushio hissed and stomped away. "Next time I see you brats, I _won't_ be letting you off!"  He snarled over his shoulder.

The brunette just heaved a tired, long-suffering sigh. "Man, he's a handful." Yusei distantly noted that he sounded like just Martha.

"J-Judai-san..." Muto mumbled dazedly, his arms going lax and releasing his friend's mouth from beneath his hands. Yusei wondered how Jonouchi was being so quiet.

"How did you-?" The newly freed blonde looked at Judai like he sprouted another head.

He laughed, bright and cheery. To Yusei, it was like sunshine breaking through a gray, clouded sky. Maybe he was being embarrassingly poetic, but the return of his light and airy demeanor seemed to visibly lift the entire group at once. Muto straightened from his hunched posture, Jonouchi relaxed his previously tight and coiled muscles, and Misawa's restrained smile grew a small note of fondness. It was just the kind of effect Judai's personality had on other people. "I didn't do anything that special! I just pulled him aside and talked him down. He's just a grieving dad, you know? He needs someone to blame."

Muto and Jonouchi looked surprised at his insight, though whether or not it was because Judai shared something they haven't considered or because they were just surprised he was capable of that level of thought was unclear. Maybe a bit of both. Judai's childishly large pools of energy and boundless cheer belied his emotional intelligence. "Guys like him can't stand by while someone they care about is hurt." Yusei added quietly, noting that Misawa wasn't surprised by Judai's show of intellect.

Jonouchi glared in the general direction said officer stalked off to. "I can get that- I really can. But takin' it out on Yugi and you without any proof is shitty. Plus, he's only harassing you because you're from Satellite."

He refrained from pointing out that Jonouchi did the same thing just a week ago, because that was old news and he's done more than enough to redeem his actions. "Lots of people do that." He said simply, and the group fell into a brooding silence.

"Hey, hey, you guys." Judai thumped him on the arm. "I go through all that trouble to get _Dirty Harry_ out, and you ruin the mood again? Let's lighten up here!"

"Sorry." Yusei said. "You're right." They came all the way out here to have fun; he couldn't let his Satellite roots ruin the day for his friends.

"Why don't you introduce your friends to me, Judai?" Misawa, forgotten in the back of the group, cut in with an amused look to his friend.

Judai blinked with a startled look. "Right- right! Sorry, man! Guys, this is Misawa Daichi. We share a lot of classes at college and even went to the same high school."

"Muto Yugi. It's nice to meet you, Misawa-san." Muto said politely, but not with the usual enthusiasm. Ushio must have really gotten to him, blaming him for Ushio-san's hospitalization.

Jonouchi sent his short friend a concerned look from behind him. "Jonouchi Katsuya. Nice to meet ya."

With the formalities out of the way, Judai bounced on the balls of his feet. "So what're you guys doin' out here anyways? Shopping?"

"Oh," Muto came back to attention with the mention of their plans. "We're looking for an arcade to visit."  
  
"If one would let us in." Jonouchi grumbled, offended on Yusei's behalf.

"Yes, I imagine that would be hard." Misawa said with an understanding look, as if he'd solved a math problem. It shouldn't be hard to figure out with the loud yellow trackers stuck to Yusei's face.

"Whaaat? You mean they won't let you in?" Judai huffed, looking annoyed before his face suddenly perked up in another one of his jarring mood swings. He was far more emotionally expressive and capricious than Yusei was accustomed to; even Rally was more restrained. Trying to keep up with Judai's mood swings occasionally left him feeling like a rug was pulled from under his feet. "You know, I think I know a place! Wanna come, Misawa?"  
  
"Thank you for the offer," said Misawa, "but I have some things to take care of at home. I'll see you later, Judai. Nice to meet you, you three."  
  
"What? Boo!" Judai grinned at his friend's retreating form, despite his words.

"It was nice to meet you too!" said Muto.

Jonouchi waved carelessly. "Catch you later."

"So where's the place?" Their shortest member inquired.

"It's actually not far from here." The brunette hummed. "Just a hop and skip. Maybe a couple streets down?"

They had walked halfway there, turning a corner and crossing a street, when a black car rolled up to the side. "Excuse me." A stoic man in a crisp black suit stepped out, peering at them with disinterested black eyes. Yusei described him to have all the enthusiasm of a brick, but it was worth noting that the man _was_ smiling. That's just how fake and plastered on it was. "You're Muto Yugi and his friends, correct?"

"Um... Y-yes?" Muto looked like the world had turned upside down and inexplicably pink, for all the confusion written on his face.

"Good." The smartly-dressed stranger plowed on, like Muto's response didn't matter in the slightest. "I've been hired by Kaiba Seto-sama to come and pick you up. He'd like to meet you-"  
  
"No." Yusei interrupted and began walking. He refused to be in the presence of Seto Kaiba longer than absolutely necessary, and those necessities generally encompassed danger to life-and-limb. The very image of his ice-cold eyes and plastic mockery of genuine human interaction made his skin crawl.  
  
"Please wait." The man smiled thinly, and it made the whites of his black eyes narrow into dark pools. "I'm afraid that I've been hired to pick you up. You can decline, but I won't receive any pay to drive across the city and back with an empty car." An obvious guilt trip. "Besides, as I understand it, he would like to give you all a gift to apologize for his uncouth behavior previously."  
   
He must have meant the little episode back at the shop, but from the way Muto cringed there might have been another story they weren't privy to. "The answer is still-"  
  
"Okay."

What? "Muto-san, you don't have to go." He said, concerned. Muto was softhearted, that's what made him very kind, but it also made him an easy target for manipulators like Kaiba and the driver here.

"I know, but if Kaiba-kun wants to apologize then he at least deserves a chance."

Jonouchi carded a hand through blonde locks. "Okay- fine. But you ain't goin' _alone,_ are ya?" He shot a meaningful look to the black-eyed man.

"Kaiba-sama extends his invitation to any of Muto's friends that would accompany him." He responded crisply, with a detached smile of professionalism.

Well, that was that, but there was one other thing he had to address. "Judai-san." He started, pulling his friend's attention. Judai had remained respectfully quiet, given that he didn't know what was going on. "I don't think you should come."

"Eh? Why not?"  
  
"I don't trust Kaiba." He said lowly. "He's... a suspicious character. Fake. The kind of person that doesn't do things unless they'll benefit from it. I don't think he has good intentions."

"All the more reason to go then." The brunette said stubbornly. "If you get into trouble, I wanna be there. Plus, I'm _twenty._ Having an adult there might help."

Yusei seriously, _seriously_ doubted that. Kaiba probably cared that Judai was over the age of eighteen about as much as he cared about liberating Satellite. "But-"

"Enough." And there was that firm tone again, the one that Yusei had a hard time arguing with. It's not that Judai scared or intimidated him, but it was hard to argue when someone so goofy got such a serious look on their face. It was even harder to argue with someone that already made up their mind an hour before you even had the conversation in the first place. "I wanna go."

He sighed. "Alright, but promise me you'll watch out for yourself. Kaiba's dangerous."

A bright, toothy grin. "Sure! Promise."

They reluctantly clambered into the back of the luxurious and spacious car, opting to sit together over the uncomfortable position of being alone with the driver in the front.  
  
"Why would Kaiba call us like this?" Jonouchi managed to lounge lazily even in the seat of the car, his arms cradling his head against the head-rest. "He could just meet up with us at school like a normal person."  
  
It's a power play. People like Kaiba liked to throw their money and make lavish gestures because they _could_. It made them feel powerful over others, showing off nice things many others couldn't have and letting them have a taste of a higher standard of living. In the correctional facility, it was the constant showing strength and muscle and brutality that won the recognition and dominance over others, with people like Kaiba and Godwin, it was wantonly flashing their money and materialism. Same strategy, different weapons.

"I haven't even seen him in school..." Muto said thoughtfully. "So maybe he just couldn't?"

"Maybe he was sick?" Judai guessed.

"Kaiba-sama has been very busy, as I understand it." The driver cut in smoothly. "He's been backlogged in a lot more work than usual lately. It's only natural of course; he _is_ the president of the Kaiba Corporation."

" _What?!_ "

" _Eh?!"_

"You mean that mega entertainment company? He's _that_ Kaiba?!"  
  
"B-but he's in high school!"

Judai looked quietly thoughtful, contrasting the loud and shocked outbursts of Muto and Jonouchi. "So... what is the Kaiba Corporation?" Yusei asked, since it was apparently a very big deal.

"Oh, right. Sorry Fudo-kun." Muto looked slightly abashed. "Kaiba Corporation is one of the largest game and leisure companies in the world. They have branches in several different countries and are usually at the front of new technology. When it comes to games."

So very important and very rich and very powerful, basically. Great. Another obscenely important and rich and powerful person out to get him and his friends in his life. Wonderful.

"I see." He said.

"And  _I_  happen to be the vice president!" A small voice burst into the conversation. A young boy with a thick mane of black hair sat in the front, twisting his body around the passenger seat to look at them with a poorly-hidden sense of self-importance eerily similar to another rich boy Yusei has made abundantly clear that he didn't trust. They were  _multiplying_.

His own melodrama aside, the kid kept talking with a snicker that was supposed to sound boyish, but the sound was twisted with that same uncanny insincerity that distorted every word Kaiba said. "It's been a while, Yugi-kun!" As Yusei understood city etiquette, the familiar address to the older Muto by the much younger child was considered very rude. "We certainly had fun the other day, didn't we?"

Muto flinched.

And Yusei's opinion of the kid hit rock bottom.

"I-I remember you... You're Kaiba-kun's younger brother..." said Muto, with the friendly enthusiasm of a leaking balloon, just crinkling and crumpling in on himself with every word. Yusei had definitely missed a few things over the weekend.

Judai blinked. "So young..."

The kid looked unaffected by Muto's lack of joy and Judai's surprise; he just steamrolled ahead, as Yusei was sure he was very accustomed to doing to anyone who didn't swim along to his river's current. "The name's Kaiba Mokuba!" His lips curled at the corner in a half-hearted gesture more similar to a wolf's satisfied snarl, after gorging on someone small and helpless, than an expression of human joy, the same way his older brother's did. He looked at Muto with the same faintly amused expression as the neighborhood kids that liked to squish insects. "And don't look so down, Yugi-kun! You guys are special guests today! As it turns out, my brother's long project is coming to completion, and tomorrow is the grand opening!"

"A grand opening?" Jonouchi leaned forward with open interest.

"Well," Mokuba started, looking satisfied with himself to have such undivided attention. "My brother is a pretty great guy, you know. He wanted you guys to have fun, so you're invited to the special eve party!"

"And what kind of project is it? The one we're being invited to celebrate?" With the attention away from whatever debacle took place between him and Mokuba over the weekend, Muto had opened up again with his interest in the upcoming reveal overtaking his fear. Well, Muto  _does_ love games and Kaiba's company  _is_ one of the biggest businesses in games, apparently.

"It's a secret! Can't spoil the  _surprise!_ _"_ Mokuba giggled.

Yusei didn't like that laugh.

 

* * *

 

Kaiba's home was one of the single most ridiculous things Yusei has ever seen in his entire life. If he didn't understand the sad need for the rich to flaunt their wealth over others, he'd be repeatedly asking why two children would ever need a house big enough to shelter an entire sector of Satellite.

"I-It's like a friggin'  _castle._ " Jonouchi sputtered, more out of awe than Yusei's unimpressed disbelief. Yusei didn't hate people who happened to have money, nor did he hate people that happened to have or want nice things, but the knowledge that two little boys lived in a beautiful home that could provide better standards of living to hundreds out of the thousands of good people forced to live in leaky concrete sheds _angered_ him. Not specifically at the Kaiba boys, but at the unfairness of everything inflicted upon him and his friends and the thousands of other people shoved to the side for the sake of cruel, spoiled mockeries for decent humans like Godwin or the Kaibas. The Kaiba palace gleamed with sparkling marble, artistic statues and paintings, carpets soft enough to sleep on, and rich, polished wood that reflected his stony face more flawlessly than any mirror could ever hope to.

It made his stomach turn.

"Welcome home, young master." A long line of immaculate servants bowed in graceful and perfect synchronization, eerily reminiscent to a line of manufactured machines. With the unsettling lack of family photos, personal paraphernalia, or even people, everything about Kaiba's home, spacious and beautiful as it is, felt cold and artificial. Yusei himself tended to let things get reasonably cluttered in his room at the apartment, because the incorrigibly messy array would remind him of the cramped, but lived-in quality of his home back in Satellite. His friends would actually have a good laugh about that. In Satellite, that same clutter used to drive him insane, and he would be constantly at war with the mess in a small space too cramped to truly organize in. Yusei supposed it was just his homesickness surfacing in those little changes.

"You're Muto-sama, correct?" A short, wrinkled old man hobbled to the front with a wide, toothy grin that unsettled Yusei just like everything else here. "I have specific orders from Kaiba-sama to attend to your every need. Your company, as well."

"Hey, where's my brother?" said Mokuba.

"Sir, he went to lie down earlier."

"What the _hell_..." The boy muttered with language that Martha would be pulling his ears for. "He invites guests over for a special night and then goes to take a  _nap?_ "

The old servant's placid smile never twitched. "He's been working for days with very little rest... I'd hate to disturb his long-awaited sleep."

"Ugh," he sniffed irritably, presumably in his older brother's poor show as a host. "Well, whatever. I guess you guys are _my_ guests tonight! We might have to put off the real party 'till tomorrow or something."

"Tomorrow?" Yusei asked flatly, addressing the presumptuousness of Mokuba to assume that they'd go along with his plans.

"Uh- yeah? Tomorrow." The boy rolled his eyes. "Don't you pay attention?"

Brat.

"For now," The elder cut in smoothly, "shall we prepare supper, young master?"

"Food!" Judai cheered, looking excited.

"That'd be  _awesome_!" Jonouchi celebrated with him in camaraderie forged from a sensed mutual passion for eating. "We've been walking around all day and I'm starving!"

"Eh? Why didn't you say that earlier?!" Mokuba grinned and barked orders at his servants with the casual ease of a kid raised to be used to getting his way. "Get crackin'! I want only the very best for my guests! Go ahead and use my personal preferences."

"Personal preferences?" He inquired, hoping Mokuba didn't like eating the strange novelty foods Judai would tell him about with wide, boyish grins. The brunette occasionally liked to tell Yusei strange things, just to watch him balk. He asked Mazaki and Muto about anything his roommate would tell him, and from what they'd say, Judai never lied to him about the dancing tentacles or the foods dyed black.

"Don't worry," Mokuba said with that same expression of vague amusement. "I like the common, popular stuff."

"I see." Yusei responded, and he was quickly coming to realize that he most often said that when he  _didn't_ understand, because of course he wouldn't know the most popular dishes in the city.

"Holy  _shit_ , the very best!"

"This is gonna be  _awesome."_

...At least Judai and Jounouchi were excited. Yusei wasn't comfortable with being fed by Mokuba and his servants. Not only because he didn't trust them not to put something shady into his meal, but because his pride didn't like accepting charity from others, especially shallow charity from a kid that only liked to show off.

He wouldn't let himself be ungrateful though. "Thank you." He said politely.

"Yeah, whatever." Mokuba said casually, and then grinned much too widely for Yusei's comfort. "Just look forward to it."

Supper was... interesting? Limited. Very limited. No, that wasn't the best description. There was, in fact, a wide array of dishes and meals he'd never seen before, let alone tasted. They were just- the portions that they were served in were... small. Tiny. He could fit the various tiny plates' contents into his fist. Supper was served out in literal handfuls. A cursory glance to the shocked and confused faces of Muto and Jonouchi assured Yusei that, no, this was not yet another weird and superfluous thing that rich people liked to do. This was, in fact, an unusual thing.

"It's looks  _delicious!_ " Of course Judai was happy with it, but Yusei has long since learned not to measure his expectations of other city residents with his roommate as the scale. He results would be woefully inaccurate.

"It's all junk." Muto said, trying to disguise his disappointment with polite observation.

"Junk?" He normally associated that word with the scrap metal unsuitable for anything but the recycling plants to melt into new raw metal.

"Um. Junk food." The gamer tried to explain. "Like, treats that taste good, but aren't really good for you."

"Like candy?" He asked for further clarification, ignoring Mokuba's poorly-hidden sniggering at his ignorance of what must be basic knowledge. Candy was priceless in Satellite, to the point where Yusei clearly remembered the first piece he'd ever had. It was a hard candy, flavored like fruit, given to him by Martha for his sixth birthday.

"Yeah, like candy. Junk food can taste like anything though. It doesn't have to be sweet. If a food doesn't have much nutritional value, than it's junk food. People just eat it because it tastes really good, even though it isn't good for them in big amounts." Muto and Mazaki were always patient and understanding whenever he didn't know about something that was basic knowledge to them, and when they got over their surprise, they'd always explain it in detail until he understood. Jonouchi was michievous and occasionally fibbed or exaggerated things, but he meant it in good fun and never looked down on Yusei over his lack of knowledge.

"Hence the small portions." Mokuba said with a sly grin. "These are all my favorites! Ice cream, hamburgers, fried chicken, pizza, waffles, cake, and omelette rice!" He pointed to each respective dish; a couple servings were visibly the same food, but in different colors or versions. For example, there was a little fancy glass of pink ice cream, and another with brown ice cream. "Well? Let's dig in already! Eat as much as you'd like!"

"Cool!" Judai eagerly reached for a utensil.

"...Is what I'd be saying, but that'd be  _so_ boring! I'm your host, y'know? I'm supposed to be _entertaining._ " The kid tried to grin, but to Yusei it looked more like a sneer. "How 'bout we play a game?"

Of course, Muto was interested in the prospect of a game no matter the time of the day or the state of his stomach. "Game?"

"Look at this table." Mokuba said grandly. "If you notice, the top rotates! You usually see this in Chinese restaurants." He demonstrated with a hard turn of the table, and it spun quickly. "The three of us will take turns spinning the table, and when it stops you have to eat the meal in front of you! Even if you don't like it!"

"But of course, you didn't put anything weird in it." Jonouchi said with a challenging smirk, as the table-top slowed to a halt.

The boy laughed. "Hey, you're my guests! You don't have to worry about anything like that." They didn't have to worry about death via a poisoned supper because they were  _guests,_ not because it was an awful thing to do. The implications were a disquieting thought. Kaiba Mokuba was every bit a dangerous little viper as his older brother. "This is a game, and there's a prize hidden in one of the meals! The one who finds it is the winner. Let's go clockwise, starting with my left!"

So Yusei then. Wonderful.

"Okay then, let's eat already!" With that flimsy reassurance, Jonouchi was fully convinced and spun the table before Yusei could say anything.

The wheel stopped with a plate of what he recalled to be a hamburger. He stared at the meal with no small amount of trepidation, not only because it was food served by the suspicious Mokuba, but also because he wasn't entire sure how he was supposed to eat it. It appeared to be two thick slices of bread with a thick slab of meat and sparse vegetables in the center, so he was probably supposed to eat it like a sandwich. Yusei hated eating with his hands.

"What's wrong?" Mokuba giggled at his right. "If you don't eat it all, you lose! Those are the rules! Besides, don't you wanna see if you got the prize?"

He picked up his utensils with a sigh and cut his hamburger into pieces. His instincts were telling him not to trust the kid, but it was sometimes hard to tell apart those survival instincts honed from navigating the shark-infested waters of Satellite and the correctional facility from his mistrustful paranoia against the city in general. He didn't trust Judai, and that turned out to be an incorrect assumption on his part. Maybe Mokuba and his brother didn't have good intentions for their party, but Yusei doubted they'd try to kill the others. He himself was another story, because being from Satellite pretty much made him the equivalent of a particularly large and loathsome vermin to Domino City's residents, but Muto and the others seemed insignificant enough to people like the Kaiba brothers. "Most people eat hamburgers with their  _hands_." Mokuba snorted.

"I don't like eating with my hands." Yusei responded simply, and took a bite. It was rich. The meat was thick and heavy, with a syrupy texture that coated his tongue. It didn't taste bad- it was actually quite delicious, but he wasn't sure if he liked the heavy feeling in his mouth. However, the hamburger was small and he polished it off quickly, sped up by the fact that everyone was watching him and it was giving him goosebumps. Or was it the sudden chill in the room? Yusei's brow furrowed, and like a lightning strike into his core, a boiling wave of severe cramps struck his midsection. He groaned painfully and bent over the table, overcome with heat flashes that scorched the backs of his eyes and made his temple throb like the stamping and pounding of heavy machinery. He opened his mouth to demand what was happening, but found his tongue was swelling an alarming rate; he couldn't talk through the thick muscle filling his mouth. Distantly, his ears picked up the panicked noise of his friends' voices, the sounds muddled and unclear like they were all underwater. Cold sweat slid from his hairline, contrasting with the heat of his face.

The room spun.

Images distorted.

His vision went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TROLOLOL YOU THOUGHT THIS WAS GOING TO BE A NICE DINNER, DIDN'T YOU READER? -dodges rotten tomatoes and pointy things- Ow. Pl-please forgive me for my absence kudasai. ;v;
> 
> In other news, guess who FINALLY remembered the name of the lady that raised Yusei and co? XD It's gonna be hella awkward to use Martha's name from now on when I just kept referring to her as Yusei's matron, lol.
> 
> Also, the radiated TVs that Yusei mentions are Cathode Ray televisions. They basically run by a gun firing an electron ray, and viewers are protected from the radiation by a thick lead sheet, making the TVs very heavy and too dangerous to salvage. AND "dancing" octopus tentacles and foods dyed black with squid ink are a real thing in Japan. I know the dancing octopus dish originated in other asian countries, but Japan does it too. It's basically where an octopus is chopped while it's still alive and the tentacles are served almost immediately. The tentacles still twitch from leftover nerve impulses and wiggle like worms on the plate. Or something like that. Google image "japanese black burger" to see an example of food dyed black. It's pretty wild XD
> 
> As always, thanks to everyone who gave kudos, commented, and bothered to read in the first place! So... everyone, I guess! :)


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